Ensemble Audimax, Campus and Juridicum of the Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg

1993-2002

Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Saxony-Anhalt,
represented by Martin Luther University Halle (Saale),
represented by Project Management IPM, Braunschweig

With the construction of the new law faculty (1993-1998) and the Auditorium Maximum (1999-2002), the university square in Halle an der Saale was given a new spatial setting. The large open staircase and a second staircase, which connects the entrance levels of the lecture theatre building both inside and outside, are the main components of a new square design (2001/2002), which is otherwise limited to creating contoured surfaces and connecting paths. The new square becomes an urban stage for university life in the historic centre of Halle

Audimax:

The spatial concept of the lecture theatre building is developed from the topography and new terracing of the square. The glass façade of the foyer frames the view out and in like a large passe-partout. The foyer – made entirely of exposed concrete – thus becomes part of the square, while the high walls of the lecture theatres become the actual boundaries of the square. The large and small staircases flow from the square into the building and thus initiate the following height-staggered spatial continuum of foyer and three lecture theatres, whose glass façades to the rear alley pick up the rhythm of the former house plot widths .

Juridicum:

The stepped cubature of the Juridicum naturally integrates its building mass into the heterogeneous structure of the directly neighbouring old town buildings. The terraces, which appear as narrow parcelled individual buildings to the west towards the old town alley, are preceded to the east, towards the square, by a triangular structure that mediates with the architecture and orientation of the classicist buildings opposite. The large reading hall of the specialised library with its wooden slatted façade uses the terrace structure as a reading and learning space – a meditative space.

Special recognition at the ‘Lebendige Stadt’ Foundation Prize for the University Square in Halle (Saale), 2001
Special recognition at the German Urban Planning Prize for the ensemble Juridicum, Audimax and Campus in Halle (Saale), 2002
Honoured at the German Architecture Prize for the ensemble Juridicum, Audimax and Campus in Halle (Saale), 2003
Recognition at the public design award for the ensemble Juridicum, Audimax and Campus in Halle (Saale), 2003
Deubau Prize for the Audimax and Campus of the Martin Luther University in Halle (Saale), 2004
Recognition at the Saxony-Anhalt State Architecture Prize for the Audimax and Campus Halle (Saale), 2004