Dormitory First Level

The first level of Seika Dormitory sits under broken windows, sunlight crossing the floor in irregular panels and settling on furniture pushed to the walls. Plaster lifts from the surface in sheets. Dust has accumulated on every horizontal surface, undisturbed since the building was sealed. The scene is not dramatic so much as thorough: a domestic interior held in suspension. Seika Dormitory, known in Japanese as 清華寮 (Seika-ryō), was built in 1927 by the 学租財団 (Gakuso Foundation), a body affiliated with the Taiwan Governor-General's Office, on 3,100 square metres of state land in Kohinata, Bunkyo-ku, central Tokyo. Its original name was 高砂寮 (Takasago-ryō). The structure was reinforced concrete, three storeys above ground with one basement level, and its purpose was housing for Taiwanese students studying in Tokyo during Japan's colonial administration of Taiwan. When Japan's surrender in 1945 ended colonial rule, the Gakuso Foundation ceased to function, and the dormitory became an orphaned property on state land with no clear owner. It was renamed Seika Dormitory in 1946 and continued operating, housing Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese residents across the following decades. A fire broke out in July 2007. Two residents died; seven were hospitalised. Approximately 70 per cent of the building was destroyed, with damage concentrated on the upper levels. Around 40 people in 30 households were displaced. The Kanto Finance Bureau sealed the building. The lower levels, where fire damage was less severe, retained an unusual density of personal belongings: furniture, books, clothing, kitchen equipment, vinyl records. Rooms preserved specific domestic arrangements rather than the generic emptiness of a building cleared before closure. Brett Patman photographed the sealed dormitory across two visits in 2012, four and a half years after the fire and one year before demolition. The building was razed in 2013. The site reopened on 1 October 2019 as グランヴィ小日向 (Grand Vie Kohinata), a residential care facility for the elderly. This photograph records what the first level looked like in the years between.