Otto-Stern-Centre

Central Building of the Goethe University

With its six classrooms, a large conference area, library and a cafeteria, the Central Building serves the entire campus and is an integral part of expansion plans for Riedberg, the campus for natural sciences.

> Interior Design

The design, which features an elongated, narrow building, connects the S-Bahn transit station at Riedbergallee to the north of the premises with the round, 3.5 metres lower Max-von-Laue-Straße road to the south. Ground-level entrance is possible from both the north and south ends of the lower floor thanks to a two-storey foyer, which extends over the entire length of the building and opens to generous windows to the east. The foyer is the main backbone of the structure as it connects the buildings’ various purposes. Visitors entering the building from the south can walk directly into the six lecture halls extending eastward under the walkable area on the square. Garden courtyards provide the lecture theatres with light and air. This significantly reduces the building’s visible mass in favour of a generously sized outdoor area structured by inlaid garden courtyards and broad outdoors stairways.

The cafeteria faces the campus to the south and rises in terraces to the upper level entrance, which is connected by bridges to the eastern plaza. The library is housed in a quiet location on the first and second floors and is accessible via a single-flight staircase from the northern entrance.

The lecture halls, like the structures integrated into the plaza area, are covered in natural stone while the two-storey, cantilevered library is clad in metal panels that continue down the entire west façade to the lowest level. An irregular perforation in the metal façade makes it seem semi-transparent, translucent or opaque.