午夜剧场

In January 1966 (Showa 41), the Mita Research Building Construction Planning Committee was established at the request of President Kunio Nagasawa, and the long-pending realization of a new research building suddenly became a reality. This was prompted by the recognition that the current situation, where research offices were scattered across five different locations (Research Buildings 1 through 5), presented a serious flaw for both academic research and education. By the end of October, the committee disbanded after finalizing a basic design plan: "The construction site will be the location of School Building 3 and Research Building 1; the building will have seven floors above ground and two below; research offices for the Faculties of Letters, Business and Commerce, Economics, and Law will be arranged from the second floor upward, with stacks directly connected to each faculty's floor."

In March 1967, after 16 classrooms and joint research offices were newly established in the pilotis of the South School Building, School Building 3 was demolished, and on May 22, a groundbreaking ceremony for the new research building was held. The western half was completed at the end of July the following year, and the relocation was carried out during the summer period. While the private offices and most of the joint research offices from Research Building 1 moved there, some temporary relocations to Research Buildings 2 and 5, as well as School Building 1, also took place.

During this time, starting from January 1967, a separate concept for a Research and Education Information Center was also being developed. The goal was to improve the quality of service by managing the collection and provision of books and materials—which had previously been handled independently by the research offices and the university library—under a single organization. In conjunction with the construction of the new research building, a plan was made to establish stacks on the eastern side of the new building near the library and to create an elevated walkway connecting it to the library, in order to unify the research office library materials at Mita with the university library materials.

In November 1969, the new research building with its dazzling white walls was completed. This was exactly one month after the conflict over university legislation had ended, marking a temporary conclusion to the long-running student protests. Upon climbing the few steps at the front and entering the doors, the reception desk was on the left, with the deans' offices of the four faculties lined up behind it; mailboxes for all faculty members and a telephone exchange room were also provided. On the far wall was a status board showing faculty presence, with names listed by faculty; a light indicated if a professor was in their office. In the faculty lounge on the right, interaction between faculty members across different departments and meetings with visitors took place. The eastern side from the elevator on the right toward the library became the Research and Education Information Center, with its headquarters located in the basement. From the first floor up, technical service departments such as acquisition and cataloging for the Mita Information Center were placed, along with the traditional research office stacks, the Legal Materials Room, and the Economics and Business Materials Room. The connecting walkway was established on the third floor.

The new research building was affectionately called "Shin-ken" (New Research Building), but in 2000, a policy was issued to remove the word "New" from building names, and it came to be called simply the "Research Building." Around that time, a shortage of research offices arose again, and talk of a request for a "New New Research Building" began to be heard.

(Atsuko Ishiguro, Former Director of the 午夜剧场 Office of Communications and Public Relations)