The campus of the Federal University of Public Administration in Rostock-Lichtenhagen comprises a teaching block for 600 students and two residential blocks that frame a public green space. The buildings are predominantly constructed from timber modules and provide new spaces for learning, living, leisure and sport. The campus contributes to the further development of the neighbourhood by creating a new meeting place, linking up with existing structures and exemplifying sustainable construction methods in architecture and green space planning.

Urban Development Concept

The university’s surroundings are characterised by large-scale building forms constructed using large-panel construction methods, which define a system of public and semi-public outdoor spaces. The new campus ties in with the green structure and the building volumes both in terms of scale and the positioning of its building blocks. Three elongated building blocks frame and consolidate the public park, creating two main areas, each with its own character: the raised garden plateau between the two residential blocks, beneath which parking facilities are located, and the ground-level, green centre in front of the university building. The open design enhances specific views in and out of the space.

Ground-floor zones and residential blocks

The ground-floor areas are consistently dedicated to public uses: a canteen, lecture theatres, a library, and other university facilities, as well as leisure facilities for all students situated beneath the two seven-storey residential blocks. Together with the colourful treatment of the façades, the building’s form – with its multiple, gentle bends – breaks up the repetitive nature of the modular student halls of residence. The corridors on the upper floors are also divided by these bends into clearly defined sections, each of which contains a communal kitchen and two flats designed for specific needs.

The University Building

Conceived as a ‘groundscraper’, the 130-metre-long university building defines the northern edge of the campus. The volume of the building is broken up on the upper floors by alternating pavilions and courtyards, whilst the ground-floor façade is kept transparent, allowing views into the ground-floor facilities from a covered park path. Internally, the building is organised along a four-storey circulation axis, which links the teaching rooms, the administrative facilities of the various faculties and the numerous other functions of a modern educational institution. Designed as a spacious, naturally lit circulation space, this internal boulevard creates a multitude of additional communal areas for self-directed learning.

Sustainability in detail

The sustainability concept breaks new ground, particularly in the area of embodied energy: the entire project was constructed using a resource-efficient, largely CO₂-reduced and low-emission hybrid timber and modular construction method. For a project comprising 1,000 modular units, this is unprecedented to date.

The public park, with its native and climate-resilient trees and shrubs, provides cool respite in summer and offers a new habitat for small animals and insects. All rainwater infiltrates into the ground on the site via open retention basins. The retention roofs are also fitted with large-scale PV systems. Compact building envelopes with active and passive solar shading provide the ideal conditions for reduced energy consumption in both summer and winter.

Sustainability means avoiding cladding wherever possible. Consequently, the materials have largely been left exposed in the interior spaces. Timber, with its vibrant and warm colouring, lends even larger rooms a pleasant atmosphere and creates a good contrast to the concrete surfaces of the plinth and circulation areas. The residential buildings are clad in timber on the outside; a cascade of timber battens of varying widths, together with colour-coated grooves, lends them additional visual vitality.

New qualities in public building

The campus is situated in a district characterised by industrially prefabricated large-panel concrete buildings. The timber modular construction method continues the principle of serial building under today’s technical and environmental conditions. Whereas the rapid provision of housing was the primary focus back then, today’s planning is shaped by aspects such as resource conservation, sustainability, durability and quality of use.