A joint campus for Mainz University of Applied Sciences is being built on Lucy-Hillebrand-Straße
At a ceremonial key handover on October 27, 2025, the State Real Estate and Construction Management Agency (Landesbetrieb LBB) handed over the second construction phase to Mainz University of Applied Sciences. Speakers at the ceremony included Mainz University of Applied Sciences President Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman, Finance Minister Doris Ahnen, Science Minister Clemens Hoch, Mainz Mayor Nino Haase, and Holger Basten, Managing Director of the LBB, whose Mainz branch is managing the new construction project. The key handover marks the official start of the subsequent relocation process for the university’s campuses from the city center.
With the expansion of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences campus, all three departments will be united at a single location on Lucy-Hillebrand-Straße. This physical proximity will foster future synergies in teaching, research, and knowledge transfer.
Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman, President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, emphasized: “For us, this newly emerging location enables collaborative and interconnected innovative research and teaching to a much greater extent than before. The new layout facilitates significantly more opportunities for exchange with minimal effort: students, researchers, and staff from different disciplines can connect more easily, which can only benefit interdisciplinary projects and new approaches.”
New building with a usable floor area of approximately 13,000 square meters
Mainz University of Applied Sciences currently has a total of approximately 5,500 students. The Department of Economics and the Department of Engineering, with its “Applied Computer Science and Geodesy” program, are already housed in the first phase of construction. Over the next few months, the Department of Engineering—with its specializations in Architecture and Civil Engineering—and the Department of Design—with its specializations in Interior Architecture and Communication Design—will gradually move into the new building, which has a usable floor area of approximately 13,000 square meters, which are currently housed at the Holzstraße and Rheinstraße locations. The Time-Based Media program, with a focus on audiovisual and interactive digital media such as audio, film, and 3D animation, will remain at the Wallstraße location.
The new building provides space for research, teaching, and administration. This includes various workshops and laboratories, a two-story hall for structural engineering, and a testing facility for building materials, including a test rig. In addition, there are 36 seminar and administrative rooms of various sizes, as well as student workspaces, covering an area of just under 1,400 square meters. The compact structure features two inner courtyards. The spacious connecting corridor (Magistrale), completed in the first construction phase, was extended in the second phase and opens outward toward the new central entrance area. The design concept for the outdoor areas is continued with additional deciduous trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses, as in the first construction phase. As part of the second construction phase, 312 additional bicycle parking spaces will be installed. The groundbreaking ceremony took place in June 2020, and the topping-out ceremony in September 2021.
Doris Ahnen, Minister of Finance and Construction, stated: “With the completion of the second construction phase, this location will become a central knowledge hub with tailor-made conditions for the applied sciences. In total, the state of Rhineland-Palatinate has invested 76 million euros in the second construction phase to consolidate the university on its campus on Lucy-Hillebrand-Straße. This underscores that the modernization and expansion of university facilities are among the most important goals of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Research and science are the foundation for technical, economic, and social progress. The building is also exemplary in terms of sustainability; its construction takes into account not only ecological but also economic, sociocultural, and functional aspects and qualities.”
“With the expansion of the campus, the academic community here in Mainz is coming closer together. Not only is the university being concentrated at a single location, but academic activities are also being consolidated in collaboration with Johannes Gutenberg University and research institutions. This will make the academic community here in Mainz even more visible and contribute significantly to the region’s innovative strength,” said Minister of Science Clemens Hoch.
New building section will be gradually put into use by faculty and students
Following the handover of the keys, the newly completed section of the building will be gradually put into use by faculty and students. The installation of university-specific equipment, as well as targeted fixtures by the university to finalize the adaptation of the spaces to their respective uses, will take place shortly thereafter. The move out of the two old locations on Holzstraße and Rheinstraße will take place in stages and will be carried out in close coordination with teaching operations to ensure uninterrupted academic activities. The complete relocation of all functions to the new site is scheduled to be completed by the end of the 2026 summer semester, that is, by the end of September 2026.
Mayor Nino Haase said: “This latest development is extremely encouraging and forward-looking: the university campus will soon be strengthened to the highest technical standards, with academic programs located in close proximity to one another. This will create optimal conditions for young academics to engage in research and teaching—and for their invaluable contributions to the regional business community, to project initiatives, and to urban society as a whole. A focused knowledge hub is taking shape here in the state capital, with the university now located at a central site alongside JGU, Life Science, and the Biotech Hub—a hub that will have international appeal while also enabling unique collaborations and synergies. In addition, it is absolutely essential for our urban development that we now be able to move into our property on Holzstraße in the foreseeable future.”
LBB Managing Director Holger Basten explained: “For the university expansion site, including the areas designated for university-related commercial use, the City of Mainz has set clear urban planning goals to preserve the fresh-air corridor and minimize negative climatic impacts. The university’s second construction phase also meets these urban planning requirements, even though it offers nearly 1.5 times as much usable floor space as the first. By lowering the lower floors and the inner courtyards while still ensuring ample natural light, the permitted building height was maintained—which is particularly important for the fresh-air corridor. Like the first construction phase, the new building is functionally planned and convincingly designed using a limited number of materials. A distinctive feature is the continuation of the central connecting corridor, the “Magistrale,” which also serves as a space for social interaction, student work, and the new central entrance.”
The first construction phase, inaugurated in 2009, already nearly met the standard of a low-energy building. For the second construction phase, the goal is to achieve the Silver Standard under the federal government’s Sustainable Building Assessment System (BNB), introduced in 2010. Sustainability in this context refers to the building’s ecological, economic, sociocultural, and technical characteristics.
In addition to the two university buildings, the university campus will also include the LUCY building starting in spring 2026, which will offer student workspaces and event rooms. Furthermore, Mainz University of Applied Sciences will maintain a presence in the city center with the LUX Pavilion and its location on Wallstraße.
Art in Architecture: “Zollstock” Marks New Campus Entrance
As part of the state-funded “Art in Architecture” initiative, the six-meter-tall sculpture “Zollstock” by the Berlin-based artist collective “inges idee” was installed at the new entrance to Mainz University of Applied Sciences this summer. The dynamic sheet-metal figure, featuring an oversized, unfolded yellow folding ruler, symbolizes measuring, determining, and verifying—serving as a unifying element among the three departments of Design, Technology, and Business. The sculpture serves as a humorous bridge between analog traditions and digital developments and underscores Mainz University of Applied Sciences’ dynamic orientation toward the future.
“Tomorrow Is Here” Image Campaign Launches
Coinciding with the key handover, Mainz University of Applied Sciences is launching the image campaign “Tomorrow Is Here—Our New Campus. More Space for Shared Ideas.” With the expanded shared university campus, an area for applied sciences is taking shape in the immediate vicinity of Johannes GutenbergUniversity of Mainz, the MEWA Arena, and the emerging biotech campus, an area dedicated to applied sciences is taking shape. With its diverse range of degree programs and numerous partnerships with innovative companies, this campus will play a forward-looking role in Mainz as a hub for science.
This article was published on the website on October 27, 2025.