Completion of the Mita Campus North Annex

On March 19 of this year, the completion ceremony for the Mita Campus North Annex was held. The North Annex is located in the northwestern part of Mita Campus, about a five-minute walk from the North Gate, directly across from the Tsunamachi Mitsui Club where Tsunanote-bikizaka and Shinmeizaka slopes intersect. On the day of the ceremony, the area was hit by unseasonable snow, and the ceremony took place while looking out at the snow-covered roof garden from the windows of the Innovation Lounge and Meeting Room on the 6th floor of the North Annex. During the ceremony, President Kohei Itoh presented certificates of appreciation to Mr. Toru Kamura, President and Representative Director of Mitsui Fudosan Residential Co., Ltd., and Mr. Masahiko Okada, Representative Director, Executive Vice President, and General Manager of the Administration Division of Taisei Corporation. Following the owner's address by President Itoh, congratulatory speeches were delivered by Mr. Hiromichi Iwasa, Chair, Keio University Board of Councillors, Mr. Kamura, and Mr. Okada, followed by an address from Vice-President Okada, the director in charge. After the ceremony, a representative from the design department of Taisei Corporation provided an overview of the North Annex, followed by a tour of the facility.

The construction of the North Annex is positioned as part of the redevelopment project for the former site of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' Postal Life Insurance Bureau, titled the "(Tentative Name) Mita 1-chome Project (Residential Building/University Building)." In March 2020, the Keio University Board of Councillors approved the acquisition of the land located at Mita 1-chome, Minato-ku (the former site of Japan Post Insurance). The acquisition was subject to conditions based on the redevelopment plan, such as designating the university building as part of a single-site building complex with the residential building, limiting its use to university purposes, and prohibiting "wet" experimental activities involving chemicals, radioactive substances, or animals. The ground-breaking ceremony was held on November 7, 2022. Although behavioral restrictions were being eased due to the vaccination rollout that began the previous year, the Shinto ritual took place under "With-COVID" conditions amid concerns about the arrival of the eighth wave. During the construction period, there were concerns regarding the impact of work-style reforms across the construction industry and nationwide labor shortages on the construction schedule. However, thanks to the efforts of the contractors and all involved, the main building construction was completed as scheduled at the end of December 2024, and the handover upon completion took place on February 28, 2025.

The North Annex is a six-story reinforced concrete structure with a total floor area of approximately 4,900 square meters, which is about twice the size of the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration). The exterior inherits the dignified presence of the former Postal Life Insurance Bureau building along with the adjacent residential building, while featuring a sharp design that utilizes large glass surfaces, designed to harmonize with the surrounding Tsunamachi Mitsui Club and embassies. The exterior uses double-glazed glass with the highest level of solar heat removal performance in Japan, and high energy-saving performance is achieved through the introduction of high-efficiency air conditioning equipment and lighting control using motion and daylight sensors. For the interior, cedar wood harvested from the Shizugawa Forest in Minamisanriku—an FSC-certified forest and one of the school forests owned by Keio University—was processed with semi-noncombustible treatment and used for wall materials. School forests are located in various regions from Miyagi Prefecture in the north to Wakayama Prefecture in the south, maintained with the cooperation of the Fukuzawa Ikurin Tomo-no-kai and the Forestry Mita-kai, and are utilized for education and research activities, including those at affiliated schools. The amount of carbon dioxide sequestered through the use of wood in the North Annex reaches approximately 14 tons, and through design ingenuity, various sizes of cedar boards and scraps are used without waste. Furthermore, the building reflects the principles of the SDGs throughout as a structure contributing to a sustainable society, utilizing recycled materials from rice husks and cypress, recycled wood decks, and signboards made from crushed and processed cedar thinnings.

In planning the utilization of the North Annex, it was considered under the "Intellectual Dejima Concept" to create new functions for Mita Campus, aiming to be a "base for research and education where faculty members centered on Mita Campus can widely participate" and a "place for serendipity that leverages the diversity of Mita Campus," while taking into account geographical characteristics and constraints at the time of land acquisition. Furthermore, in FY2023, Keio University was selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Program for Promoting the Enhancement of Regional Core and Distinctive Research Universities (J-PEAKS) as a "research university creating future common sense" with the pillars of "social implementation of academic knowledge" and the "creation of entrepreneurs and business leaders." Consequently, the Office of Research Development and Sponsored Projects, the Office for Research Coordination and Administration, the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Keio University Global Research Institute (KGRI), which had been dispersed across Mita Campus, were consolidated in the North Annex to strengthen the research support system.

The first floor features a lounge leading from the entrance, lecture rooms with capacities of 72 and 45 people in school-style seating, and a multi-purpose room that can be used for simultaneous interpretation. The partitions between the two lecture rooms and the lounge are all movable, allowing the entire floor to be used as a single integrated space. These facilities are intended to be used primarily for research-related purposes, such as academic lectures, public seminars, and short-term rental labs for about one week. The second floor houses two studios for online information dissemination, which are expected to contribute to individual faculty research dissemination and the formation of researcher networks. Additionally, research support-related administrative organizations are located on part of the second floor and the third floor. The fourth and fifth floors serve as Open Research Labs, forming the core of the "Intellectual Dejima Concept," providing a space for cross-disciplinary research and educational activities. On the fourth floor, KGRI's "Keio STAR (Sustainable and Transformative Actions for Regeneration)" has established its base, operating as an "action tank" to create and implement new cultures and industries that contribute to sustainability. On the fifth floor, centered on the Graduate School of Business Administration, research and human resource development related to a wide range of entrepreneurship and management, including non-profit organizations, will take place. The sixth floor features an Innovation Lounge and Meeting Rooms, intended to be used flexibly as a place for cross-disciplinary interaction among faculty members and as a venue for lectures and social gatherings.

The North Annex was born not only to create economic value through the fusion and dissemination of knowledge and social implementation at Keio University, but also as a place to transform the very nature of the social implementation of academic knowledge through the power of intellect. We would like to express our deepest gratitude once again to all those involved who provided immense cooperation from the planning stages to completion, and we sincerely hope that this facility will be utilized by many people and become a hub for intellectual exchange and creation.