International Christian University's (ICU) University Hall, chosen as fiscal 2020's modernist building in Japan, is seen in this image provided by the ICU.

       YOKOHAMA -- International Christian University's (ICU) University Hall in the Tokyo suburban city of Mitaka -- a renovation of the former Nakajima Aircraft Co. Mitaka Laboratory used for developing munitions in World War II -- has been picked by the Japanese branch of an international preservation group as a building of the modern movement for fiscal 2020.

       University Hall was recognized by building registration and preservation group Docomomo Japan for its value as a structure leftover from the war, as well as for being "a commemorative building that switched from being a munitions facility to an academic one."

       Docomomo Japan is the local branch of an international organization founded in the Netherlands. Every fiscal year, it works in cooperation with the Architectural Institute of Japan to decide on valuable buildings existing across Japan. So far it has chosen 250 edifices nationwide. The result of its selections for fiscal 2020 were announced in June.

       University Hall was chosen for registration along with a cluster of buildings at ICU, including its church and library. The structure was built with reinforced concrete, making it stand out amid a shortage of materials during the war. It has been praised as "a wartime building with value for its top-class technology."

       Noting its transformation from a munitions facility into a university building, the group underscored the structure's societal value, stating, "It can fulfill an important role as a form of study material, or as a place for learning and discussion about war and peace."

       The groundbreaking ceremony for building work to create what was then the Nakajima Aircraft Co. Mitaka Laboratory took place on Dec. 8, 1941, the same date in Japan that the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. The building was completed in 1943. The facility was used to develop the engine of the ultimately unfinished Nakajima G10N Fugaku bomber that Japan had hoped to use to bomb the U.S. mainland and revive the country's fortunes in the war.

       It reached the end of the war without being bombed by the U.S., and the building was eventually acquired by ICU. American-born architect William Vories (1880-1964) planned the campus, and renovated it, adding a fourth floor. It has been in use as University Hall since the college's opening in 1953.

       In 2015, parts of a jet engine that appeared to be intended for inclusion in the never-realized Nakajima Ki-201 Karyu jet fighter, which would have been the Imperial Japanese Army's first jet fighter designed to intercept U.S. B-29 bombers, were found at a material storage facility on the university campus.

       ICU previously announced plans to replace and rebuild University Hall due to its deterioration, but the scheme was opposed by staff, students and others who maintained the building had value as an edifice from the war. As a result, use of the building will continue.

       Regarding the praise lavished on the edifice by Docomomo Japan, ICU released a statement saying: "This is a great honor. It has made us appreciate again the building's historic value for our university and for modernist architecture, and we wish to continue to take care of it in future."

       (Japanese original by Takuya Izawa, Yokohama Bureau)

       Font Size S M L Print Timeline 0