Center for research and education
Chemikum, Erlangen-Nuremberg University
The Chemikum is a pioneering research building for the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. The new building unites the existing chairs of chemistry and pharmacy under one roof and creates modern laboratory conditions in the direct vicinity of the Biologikum and Physikum.
The departments of Chemistry and Pharmacy were previously housed in buildings that could no longer be renovated. In addition, the laboratories no longer met the legal safety requirements. With the Chemikum, a new location was created that offers modern conditions for research and teaching and strengthens the Faculty of Natural Sciences both spatially and functionally.
The result is an inviting, transparent building with exciting visual relationships - a pioneering location for research and teaching.
Andreas Rieser
Engineer, Managing Director in Nuremberg
Inspired by the tall, dense pine forests of the surrounding area the façades of the four large laboratory cubes of the Chemikum are finished with pre-patinated green metal panels. Located above these is an office level with a rear-ventilated skin of dark fair-faced brickwork. The steel and glass structure of the circulation space between these two elements offers views across the extensive complex of buildings. An open stair and several geometrically arranged pools of water and groups of trees organize and enclose the “Forum”, a central square paved with large slate-colored panels interspersed with lighter areas that act as communication zones between the buildings.
In addition to laboratories and offices, central facilities such as lecture halls, seminar rooms, a library, cafeteria, a crèche and an additional center for computer and molecular sciences were built on a usable area of around 10,000 m². The Chemikum thus forms a new center on the south campus - in the direct vicinity of the Biologikum and Physikum.
