Cambridge House
Living...
We live in Cambridge House, the residential block of Daiichi University. The building is three flat domino slices of accomdation, arranged to form a big square "U". At the top of this configuration is a large circular entrance hall, and a lake sits in the resulting courtyard. This surprisingly dramatic architecture has however since been domesticated, so that net curtains hang in the windows of the entrance hall, a plastic matting walkway has been put over the polished stone floor and little statue cherabins have been planted around the courtyard.
We live on our own floor - a rare gender mixed, drinking, smoking space in this University, our floor is reacheable only by lift. Its corridors are wide and square, covered with a kind of mock muslin white wallpaper and utility tough tiles of blue carpet. Our rooms are big with ensuite shower and bath, sink and cooking hob, desk unit, complementary alarm clock and plastic sandals. A public space sits in the middle of the main corridor, where computers, desks, a fridge, sink, TV and even a ice-machine are to be found. Looking out of the top-floor window, its a kind of Travel Lodge penthouse.
The area seen through the window is odd. Cambridge House sits between two paralell trainlines, as part of a line of highrise buildings that the government seems to have zoned for high-rises. The result is a garish contrast between the green cloud covered hills on the horizon, and the paddy fields on the other side of the trainline, and our little inner city zone with building like the one just opposite CH: a multi-story bright orange windowless building, with "Zebra Slot" written along its side. (No one is ever seen entering or leaving, and we continue to puzzle over its purpose.)
