This paper examines how the eclectic design of the Hongo Campus of Tokyo Imperial University was developed through the collaboration between Uchida Yoshikazu and Kishida Hideto. Uchida began designing a building on the Hongo campus in 1919. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, he took the initiative in planning the new campus until 1938. Kishida helped design buildings on the campus as a subordinate architect from 1922–1930. Previous studies mainly focused on the uniformity of the collegiate gothic style on the Hongo Campus, but overlooked the variety of expressions that resulted from the collaboration between Uchida and Kishida. This paper analyzes the variation and development of designs on the campus during the 1920–30s and connects it to the relationship between Uchida and Kishida.
In the early the 1920s, Uchida applied the gothic style as the standard design in accordance with the design of older buildings on the campus. He consistently adopted a basic pattern of elevations that was characterized by a porch at the center and evenly aligned pilasters. He established his typical gothic style of a porch and pilasters through a series of designs five buildings.
During this period, Uchida also let Kishida design the elevations of seven buildings. Under the influence of German expressionism, Kishida attempted to overcome the historicist style at the time. Consequently, Kishida introduced modern-style designs to the gothic-style campus. Kishida’s elevation designs during this period can be categorized into two types: 1) the elevation with flat walls, which can be observed in “Department of Otolaryngology Building”, and 2) the elevation with a porch and pilasters, which can be found in "Building No. 4 of the Faculty of Engineering". The first type had no pilasters, which were totally different from Uchida’s basic pattern of elevations. The second type had the modern-style porch and pilasters that are characteristic of expressionism, but it had the same basic pattern of elevations as Uchida’s designs.
Since the late 1920s, buildings on the campus were designed mainly by Uchida because the collaboration between Uchida and Kishida did not go as planned. After Uchida designed “Library” in 1925, he repeatedly applied its gothic-style porch and pilasters all across the campus. On the other hand, Uchida also repeatedly adopted the expressionist-style porch and pilasters, which Kishida had applied in his design for “Building. No. 4 of the Faculty of Engineering.” Uchida adopted this style, particular in the proximity of the aforementioned building and the “University Hospital,” which indicated the importance he placed on the aesthetic harmony of adjacent buildings. Furthermore, in “Building No. 1 of the Faculty of Medicine,” the gothic-style pilasters and the expressionist-style porch were utilized in combination in one elevation, which displayed a mixture of the historicist and modern styles on the Hongo Campus.
Through the analysis of these designs, this paper concludes that Uchida did solely follow the gothic style, but in fact had an eclectic design style. When designing a building, he adopted either the gothic style or the expressionist style based on the designs of the surrounding buildings. On the other hand, Kishida criticized the historicist style and introduced expressionist-style designs. The collaboration between these two architects contributed significantly to the unique design of the Hongo campus, which is characterized by the harmonious merger of two different styles.
