The European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) opened the Viadrina Coworking Space in the centre of Frankfurt (Oder) on 15 April. In future, people will be able to learn, research and work here individually and collaboratively on around 1,500 square metres. The building was remodelled over five years at a total cost of 17.5 million euros. The result is an innovative, flexible space that will serve as a place to teach and work for Viadrina students, employees and founders, as well as facilitating encounters between the city and the university.
At the opening, Brandenburg's Science Minister Dr Manja Schüle said: "A modern learning and working space is more than just a building – it is a place of encounter, concentration and creative development. Viadrina's new coworking space demonstrates this in an impressive way: not a classic seminar room, not a library in the old sense. Instead, it is an open place for dialogue and new ideas. And a place that is not only open to Viadrina students and employees, but to all citizens of the city. This coworking space is an expression of a changed university culture, which we urgently need in the face of multiple challenges. That's why we are happy to support the creation of spaces like this – because the future doesn't start anywhere else, but right here."
Janine Nuyken, Viadrina Vice President for Transfer and Campus, emphasised on the occasion of the opening: "The coworking space is a great opportunity for Viadrina and for Frankfurt (Oder). I am delighted that we can now open this wonderful place. Students finally have a place where they can learn, discuss, work individually but also together with others and develop their own projects or even a business idea. We can really make a difference as a university location."
The Viadrina Coworking Space offers various areas – from a spacious meeting area to flexible learning and working spaces and a creative start-up area. It is located between the Audimax and the student hall of residence in a building formerly used as a canteen. The central elements of the coworking space include seven glass light wells measuring up to 40 square metres, which protrude from the roof of the low-rise building and provide fresh air and light. These modern aspects are combined with elements that recall the history of the building, which was built as a district party school. For example, the reinforced concrete skeleton from the 1970s has been made visible. The room is also characterised by Peter Rockel's historic rod lighting systems, which also hung in the Palace of the Republic, among other places, and a reverse glass painting by Eberhard Hückstädt has been integrated into the entrance area. Scheidt Kasprusch Architekten, who won an architectural competition in 2019, are responsible for the design.
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Further information about the structural features of the coworking space can be found here: In the heart of the Viadrina Coworking Space