The Laboratory That Came First
Ookayama West Building 1 of Tokyo Institute of Technology, formerly the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (東京工業大学大岡山西一号館（旧分析化学実験室）), is a reinforced concrete building in Meguro City, Tokyo, completed in September 1931 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (登録有形文化財) on 24 December 2013. It stands northwest of the Main Building, facing east, two storeys over a partial basement with a rooftop tower, laid out on a T-shaped plan.
When it went up, there was almost nothing else here. The school had lost its Kuramae campus to fire in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, moved to Ookayama in 1924, and spent the following years teaching out of temporary wooden buildings. This was the first permanent structure on the new campus, finished three years before the Main Building that now dominates it.
That it came first was a matter of chemistry rather than prestige. The plan for the campus put every department into one large block, and analytical chemistry was the exception. Experiments there generated noxious fumes, which meant the laboratory needed its own envelope, its own air, and its own building. So the chemists got theirs while everyone else was still in the barracks.
A Working Building Detailed Like a Monument
The registration record cites the criterion "a model of design" (造形の規範となっているもの) and gives the registration number 13-0305. What the assessors were describing is a laboratory that was detailed with far more care than its function demanded.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the exterior as Romanesque in handling, faced in scratch tile, with a decorative course at the head of the wall that the record calls dentils. The university's own account describes the same feature as a terracotta Lombard band, and describes the tiling as white and horizontally proportioned rather than as scratch tile. The two descriptions point at the same building and the same Romanesque vocabulary, and they are worth noting as a difference of terminology rather than of fact.
At the centre of the east front is a stone-faced porch, matching the treatment used on the Main Building. The stone is bush-hammered, a finish that leaves a fine pitted texture and reads as weight. The registration record singles out the survival of small fittings, light fixtures among them, as part of what makes the building worth keeping. Small metalwork is normally the first thing to be stripped out of a laboratory over ninety years of continuous use.
The university notes that the exterior tiling here was set out with more care than on the Main Building, which is an unusual thing for an institution to say about its own secondary structure. Figures for the footprint differ: the Agency for Cultural Affairs lists 644 square metres, the university 622 square metres against a total floor area of 1,318 square metres. The registration record governs for official purposes.
The Back That Was Designed as a Front
The most interesting elevation is the one nobody was supposed to use. The west face is technically the rear, but the ground drops away toward the sports field and the building was seen from below across open ground. The architects treated it accordingly, working in an external staircase and a circular balcony. Walk round to it. The east porch is the formal face; the west side is where the design gets inventive.
Inside, the ventilation was the point of the whole exercise. Laboratories one through four occupied the two wings, each fitted with extract openings at the four corners of the ceiling, feeding a multi-plate exhaust unit on the roof that drew air out of every room directly. In 1931 that was a considered piece of building services engineering, and it explains the rooftop tower that the registration record notes.
The building is now home to the university's international student centre, so it remains in daily use and the interior is not open for general sightseeing. The exterior can be seen and photographed without an appointment at any time the campus is open, and there is no admission charge. From Ookayama Station on the Tokyu Oimachi and Meguro lines the main gate is about a minute away; from the gate, head for the Main Building and take the lawn slope down to its northwest side. The Main Building and the 70th Anniversary Auditorium are both registered properties within a short walk.
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Q&A
- Can visitors enter Ookayama West Building 1 at Tokyo Institute of Technology?
- The building houses the university's international student centre and is in daily use, so the interior is not open for general sightseeing. The campus grounds are open and the exterior can be viewed at close range on foot, including the east porch and the west elevation, without an appointment or a fee.
- Why was Ookayama West Building 1 built separately from the Main Building?
- It was purpose-built for analytical chemistry, where experiments produced noxious fumes. Every other department went into the single large block of the Main Building, but the chemistry laboratories needed dedicated ventilation and were given their own structure, completed in September 1931, three years ahead of the Main Building.
- What should visitors look for at Ookayama West Building 1?
- The stone-faced porch at the centre of the east front, the decorative course running along the head of the exterior wall, and the west elevation with its external staircase and circular balcony. The west side faces away from the campus core and is easy to miss, but it carries the more elaborate design work.
- How do I reach Ookayama West Building 1 at Tokyo Institute of Technology?
- Take the Tokyu Oimachi Line or Tokyu Meguro Line to Ookayama Station, about one minute from the campus main gate. Walk toward the Main Building and descend the lawn slope on its northwest side. The registered address is 2-1-1 Ookayama, Meguro City, Tokyo.
- Who owns Ookayama West Building 1 today?
- The registration record lists National University Corporation Tokyo Institute of Technology. That institution merged with Tokyo Medical and Dental University on 1 October 2024 to become the Institute of Science Tokyo, which now holds the Ookayama campus. The heritage record has not been updated to reflect the change.
Basic Information
| Name | Tokyo Institute of Technology Ookayama West Building 1, former Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (東京工業大学大岡山西一号館（旧分析化学実験室）) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-1-1 Ookayama, Meguro City, Tokyo |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 13-0305, criterion: a model of design |
| Year Designated | 24 December 2013 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Reinforced concrete, 2 storeys with partial basement, rooftop tower; building area 644 sq m (Agency for Cultural Affairs record). Completed September 1931; T-shaped plan |
| Owner | Listed as National University Corporation Tokyo Institute of Technology; the institution became the Institute of Science Tokyo in October 2024 |
| Public Access | Exterior viewing only. Campus grounds open; no admission fee. In use as the international student centre; interior not open for general sightseeing |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Ookayama West Building 1, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009720
- Cultural Heritage Online: Ookayama West Building 1, Tokyo Institute of Technology
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/285559
- Institute of Science Tokyo: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, Main Building, West Building 1 and Auditorium
- https://www.titech.ac.jp/english/public-relations/about/campus-maps/campus-highlights/cultural-properties
- Institute of Science Tokyo: Ookayama Campus
- https://www.isct.ac.jp/ja/001/about/campuses-and-offices/ookayama
- Institute of Science Tokyo: Access
- https://www.isct.ac.jp/ja/001/access
Last verified: 2026.08.04