Witten/Herdecke University
In order to cope with the increase in students, Witten/Herdecke University was given an extension in 2021 made of wood, which is used for construction and surfaces. The centrepiece is the new workspaces including the two-storey library. Construction began in March 2020 and was planned by the Berlin timber construction pioneers Kaden+Lager.
The Witten/Herdecke Private University sees itself as an institution with new educational aspirations in order to enable students to learn how to learn. In the course of the digital revolution and the omnipresence of information, a foundation is needed to underpin the sheer wealth of knowledge. This foundation relates equally to the necessary cultural values and an appropriate building. Together, the two provide the basis for identifying the problems of the present and the future. Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges, and building with wood is one of many possibilities for inevitable decarbonisation. Because wood binds carbon dioxide.
In order to cope with the increase in students, Witten/Herdecke University was given an extension in 2021 made of wood, which is used for construction and surfaces. The centrepiece is the new workspaces including the two-storey library. Construction began in March 2020 and was planned by the Berlin timber construction pioneers Kaden+Lager, who were successful in a bidding process together with Züblin Timber.
Witten is located in the triangle between Bochum, Dortmund and Hagen in the south-east of the Ruhr region, and the university itself is well embedded in the landscape thanks to its proximity to the neighbouring Pferdebachtal valley. The new central building has a lot to achieve: in the midst of heterogeneous existing buildings, it is both a link and an independent campus centre, offering space for a library, café and numerous seminar rooms. It is one of the cradles of future science. The arrangement of the cubic building sections creates a slope-side interlocking with the park landscape towards the south and a new campus square towards the street, half of the rectangle of which is enclosed by the new building.
Several programmes located on the ground floor help the future square to be a hive of activity and strengthen the connection to the existing building, including the café with its outdoor terrace, the centrally located main entrance, as well as the campus forum and the outdoor area of the large event hall. With an urban gesture, the stairwell further animates the space and façade: visible from the outside, students and teaching staff spiral up to the upper floors together. The so-called aorta, an internal hybrid space between circulation area and workspace, extends into all parts of the building and, together with the main staircase, unfolds a great potential for communication. Important ideas often emerge between the walls.
The extension consists of a ground floor, a sloping floor and two upper floors. The actual workspaces include a variety of formal and informal uses, allow for team and closed study and are particularly approachable/comfortable/sensitive thanks to wooden surfaces and plenty of daylight. The same applies to the library and event room. Warm surfaces and a good indoor climate make both of them more inviting. Setbacks on the upper floors create roof terraces on the park side, which are perceived as additional places of learning.
The volumes are skilfully positioned. The new building encourages people to arrive by bike and, in addition to two barrier-free car parking spaces, offers several hundred covered bicycle parking spaces and a public transport stop directly on Campus Platz. Another building block towards a climate-friendly future.
