A new laboratory and office building, the so-called IEK-12, is being built in Münster as an extension to the Helmholtz Institute (HI MS). The international and interdisciplinary team at HI MS is researching new battery technologies based on innovative electrolytes. The main entrance to the new institute building is located on the rounded front side facing the forecourt, which forms a joint forecourt situation in conjunction with the entrance area of the adjacent MEET battery research centre. The elevated plinth zone of the ground floor lends lightness to the compact structure and forms a barrier-free, ground-level connecting zone to the campus area of the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster. This creates a new urban development area with an identity-forming quality of stay.
Three full storeys and a staggered storey with the technical centre rest on two base elements, in which the special laboratory functions (microscopy etc.) and the technical access focus are located. Above this are the laboratory and office areas as well as the lecture theatre and seminar area. A metal strip façade spans the entire new building and opens it up to its surroundings with ribbon windows running around the front. With this metallic shell and the block-like, rounded shape, the new IEK-12 building is associatively reminiscent of its scientific use, battery research.
The new building is a further component of the centre of excellence for battery research in Münster with space for around 110 employees. The Helmholtz Institute Münster (HI MS) with the denomination “Ion Conduction in Energy Storage” (IEK-12) was founded in 2014 by Forschungszentrum Jülich, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster (WWU Münster) and Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH Aachen University). It is part of the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) at Forschungszentrum Jülich.
| Location | Münster, Germany |
| Feasibility study | 2016 |
| Construction | 2022 - 2026 |