Groundbreaking ceremony for the new Geosciences and Environmental Sciences Campus in Munich

In the heart of Munich's city center, the new geosciences and environmental sciences building of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) for 520 students and 140 scientists is being built on an area of approx. 17,000 square meters. In addition to the five teaching and research units of geology, palaeontology and geobiology, mineralogy and petrology, crystallography and geophysics, the geoscientific state collections are also moving into the building. Exhibition and storage areas are also part of the building alongside special laboratories, a library and workshops for
and workshops for rock processing are also part of the concept.

The focus is on a global, interdisciplinary understanding of research into the dynamics and interrelationships of processes on Earth, which have taken on an additional dimension with climate change
have taken on yet another dimension.

A "forum" will make the geosciences understandable for visitors, but also for students and scientists through exhibitions, interactive workshops, guided tours and lectures.

For us as engineers, who also think holistically about the architecture and the building, this is a tailor-made task.
The 8-storey reinforced concrete skeleton building with two basement levels is being built in a densely built-up, cramped inner city location. It directly adjoins a listed neighboring building. A staircase and elevator core will be integrated into this building, taking into account the supporting structure, which is worthy of preservation.

The building will have a 21 m high glass-roofed atrium with spans of up to 22 m and a free-standing glass façade with an area of 400 square meters. Inside, connecting bridges with a span of 21.5 m are planned, which will be suspended via stay cables.

The building itself will be constructed without joints using in-situ concrete . There is a requirement for magnetic field-free laboratories in some areas. Here, the ceilings are reinforced exclusively with glass fiber composite reinforcement.

The foundation of the building, which is embedded 8.30 m deep in the groundwater, is based on an elastically bedded floor slab with tie rods to prevent buoyancy. The basement floors are waterproofed as a "white tank" with additional fresh concrete composite sheeting.

The spectacular building design was created by Gerber Architekten.