This year’s winners of the Gutenberg Scholarship of the capital city of Mainz were announced at a ceremony at the Academy of Sciences and Literature on October 28, 2022. The ceremony also included an award for a thesis from Mainz University of Applied Sciences.
“In everything we do, we seek a dialogue with the society of our city and region. We are especially delighted that this award recognizes the social value of a thesis that can contribute to the economic and scientific development of the city,” emphasized Professor Dr. Susanne Weissman, President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, when presenting the scholarships.
In her award-winning bachelor's thesis, Annalena Schütt explored the development of a Life Science Center, a multifunctional start-up center, on the grounds of the Generalfeldzeugmeister barracks in the Oberstadt district of Mainz during the 2021 summer semester. The start-up center is intended to effectively support the immense potential of the state capital in the fields of life science and biotechnology and bolster Mainz as a successful start-up location for biotechnology start-ups. The site, in the immediate vicinity of Biontech, is conveniently located at the entrance to the city and offers good conditions for a campus where research facilities, companies, and housing create an innovative environment.
In her bachelor’s thesisLife Science Center – Multifunktionales Gründerzentrum, Annalena Schütt presents a convincing, flexibly usable structure consisting of cubic building structures, each of which forms its own functional area. Intersections between the building structures serve as internal access and connect the building structures with each other. Staggered heights and building recesses create large light-flooded inner courtyards and entrance plazas. These invite visitors to linger and serve as meeting and communication areas. Overall, the design of the Life Science Center looks like “a city within the city”. The individual cubes act as addresses in an open, innovative working and research landscape.
“In Mainz, spaces need to be created that give innovations maximum expression and opportunities for development. The challenge of the thesis was not only in the building design, but also in the development of a campus as an urban quarter, where innovative work and life can take place in a resource-saving and resource-conscious manner. The Life Science Center was to be designed as an ‘incubator’ in the center of the campus. In her contribution, graduate Annalena Schütt is convincing on the highest technical level,” said Professor Kerstin Molter, who supervised the thesis and assigned it a grade of 1.0 (very good).
The Gutenberg Scholarship of the City of Mainz was endowed in 1946 to promote scientific education at the universities in Mainz. The scholarship is awarded to completed academic works that are considered an outstanding scientific, artistic, or professional achievement and are thematically related to the state capital of Mainz.