The Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society (HWG LU) started regular lectures on 11.03.2024. After the first semester students, all students now have the opportunity to take a look inside the new building (Building C) and benefit from the new, bright rooms. Large parts of Building C are already usable and occupied. The new library will follow at the beginning of May and the new canteen in the summer. The outdoor area between the existing buildings A and B and the new building C is also visibly taking shape.
Long planned and now largely handed over to its new regulations: The new construction of Building C on the site of the former student parking lot on the corner of Ernst-Boehe-Straße/Ludwig-Reichling-Straße has made visible progress since the ground-breaking ceremony in November 2019 and has been largely ready for occupancy since February 2024. With three storeys and an area of 45 x 125 m, the new building has a usable area of almost 14,000m2 and already offers space for the university's four departments and service facilities such as the Student Service Center, the Bafög Office and the International Office. The new building also has numerous lectures, education and group work rooms for students. The new library on the ground floor of the new building opens its doors in May and brings together the previous library rooms of the B building and the Department of Social and Health Sciences in Maxstraße. A spacious canteen and cafeteria will also be located on the ground floor of the new building and will provide students, education staff, employees and external guests with culinary delights from the winter semester 2024/2025 at the latest. The outdoor area between the existing buildings A and B and the newly constructed building C is also visibly taking shape: Numerous new plantings and stonework already give an idea that a beautifully designed outdoor area is being created here, inviting people to linger and work in the shade of the trees.
"The new building is a huge step for the university and we are very happy about it. The building and the associated transformation of the site into a central science quarter will not only bring us synergy effects in the areas of administration, education and research, but will also allow us to bring together the university facilities that were previously scattered around the city in one place. At last we have a campus in the true sense of the word, a campus as a social place with a high quality of stay for all activities of student life, with space for interdisciplinary meetings, spontaneous communication or the combination of work, study and relaxation breaks," says a delighted university president Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller. His special thanks naturally go to the Rhineland-Palatinate state government and the Ministries of Finance and Science for approving and supporting this major project.
Carolin Nöhrbaß, who as Chancellor has been involved in the construction of the new building for many years, is also pleased and relieved that the new building is now operational: "The delays in the planning, the actual construction and the handover to the university have cost us a lot of time, nerves and energy, but the result is great and I am very pleased with the wonderful new building and the beautiful outdoor area," says the Chancellor, emphasizing: "Without our strong facility management team led by our architect and FM manager Sven Fechner and without our very dedicated IT team, it would not have been possible to manage the move, which was actually planned during the last semester break, in just a few weeks before the start of lectures. Many thanks for that!" The university management would of course also like to thank the LBB and the architecture firm agn, as well as their predecessors in office, Presidents Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Anders and Prof. Dr. Peter Mudra and Chancellor Klaus Eisold, who got the project off the ground. "But all employees have also responded to the challenges of the move with commitment and flexibility in a wide variety of areas," said the Chancellor.
ES WIRD, ICH WEISS - ICH WEISS, ES WIRD
The new building is crowned on the roof by the lettering "ES WIRD", visible from afar, almost 4 m high and 24 m wide, complemented by the word unit "ICH WEISS" opposite the future library at the Passerelle, which connects the new student parking lot with the campus. Together, the two letterings form a work of art inspired by the Ludwigshafen philosopher Ernst Bloch and his main work "Principle of Hope". It shows the extent to which our actions are accompanied by hope and trust in the future. The pair of words has already become a catchphrase among university members.
"MAX. Move"
The gradual relocation of the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences from Maxstrasse to Ernst-Boehe-Strasse plays a prominent role in the relocation planning. The first to move last week and the week before last were the Dean's Office and the very large Social Work department with around 500 students. The degree programs in midwifery, nursing and nursing education will remain in the former Protestant University of Applied Sciences for another semester and will follow in the winter semester 2024/2025, when the new skills labs in the neighboring Turmstraße are also completed. Members of the faculty have recorded their farewell to Maxstrasse in a book entitled "Max. Move. Der Fachbereich Sozial- und Gesundheitswesen zieht um" (Max. Move. The Department of Social and Health Care is moving), which provides very personal insights into the work of the department in recent years. Prof. Dr. Arnd Götzelmann, Prof. Dr. Ingeborg Löser-Priester, Dr. Christa Oppenheimer, Geraldine Peter and Prof. Dr. Andreas Rein were involved in editing the illustrated book, which was published at the end of 2023. "Bringing the departments together on one campus 15 years after the merger of the Protestant University of Applied Sciences and Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences was long overdue. It will further advance interdisciplinary cooperation in education and research," Chancellor Carolin Nöhrbaß and President Gunther Piller are certain.
Challenges in the near future
Despite all the joy about the new, well-equipped premises and the merging of the departments on one campus, there are also critical points in the context of the new building and the relocation activities. This became clear today during a welcoming event for Social Work, in which the student council of the Department of Social and Health Care pointed out deficits from a student perspective: lectures at unwelcome off-peak times, spatial bottlenecks or the transport connections of the campus in Ernst-Boehe-Straße were discussed. And paradoxically, it is actually the space situation of all things that will pose particular challenges once the new building is occupied: "The state is looking very closely at the space requirements of the universities. Additional leases by the university are no longer approved, which means that we effectively have 40% fewer lecture rooms available than before," explains University President Piller. This means that we have to ensure optimal utilization of the available rooms, which in turn has an impact on the timetable, explains Piller. "Room and timetable planning is a major challenge because we are no longer in as comfortable a position as we used to be," admits the Chancellor, "but we are continuously working on improvements and invite students to get involved." An exchange on this has been scheduled for some time next week. There have also been several discussions with the local transport companies to improve bus connections. "The rnv is doing what it can here, but is also reaching its capacity limits," says Nöhrbaß.
Official opening ceremony for the new building on 26 September 2024
The official opening ceremony is planned for 26 September 2024 with a ceremony for invited guests and a colorful autumn festival for all university members and the city community. "By then, everyone will be back from the summer semester break and the outdoor area and canteen will be fully operational. The new building and the shared campus are a milestone for our university and we want to celebrate this together in a big way," says University President Piller. He hopes that by then the initial difficulties that are to be expected for a new building and relocation of this size will also have been largely resolved, added the President.
The client for Building C is the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Finance, represented by the Landau branch of the Landesbetrieb Liegenschafts- und Baubetreuung (LBB).
