Developments at FAU Campus Erlangen Center

Erlangen city center and Faculty of Medicine (non-clinical area)

FAU has a number of different buildings throughout Erlangen city center. Listed university buildings such as the Schloss, Orangerie or the Kollegienhaus are well-known landmarks in Erlangen.

The Orangerie has already been renovated, but many of the other buildings are in urgent need of significant renovation or refurbishment work. Examples of these are the Schloss, where the Executive Board and University Administration are based, the Kollegienhaus and the Pharmacy, Biochemistry, Pathology, Anatomy and Forensic Medicine buildings. The University Library is also on the list of buildings awaiting renovation.

Universitätsklinikum Erlangen

Details of construction work on the buildings of the university hospital are listed on the Universitätsklinikum Erlangen website.

Relocation of Humanities and Social Sciences in Erlangen

Major changes are planned for Erlangen city center, with the relocation of the Humanities and Social Sciences, currently located in Kochstraße and Bismarckstraße. While remaining in the city center, they will move towards the south and will be located in future in Henkestraße 42 and the Himbeerpalast. The two buildings will form the new Humanities Center in Erlangen, together with the newly located logistics center for the library. Prerequisites for this reorganization included the relocation of Chemistry from Henkestraße 42 to FAU Campus Erlangen South in 2018, as well as the purchase and handover of the Himbeerpalast in 2021.

Map showing new location of the Humanities Center.

Transformation from Himbeerpalast to Humanities Center

Design for facade of Himbeerpalast. — Image: Schulz und Schulz Architekten GmbH, Leipzig

Architectural model of Himbeerpalast — (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)

Wooden architectural model of Himbeerpalast — (Image: FAU/Harald Sippel)

Over the next few years, the Himbeerpalast will be overhauled to make it suitable for use as a university building and renovated to provide seminar rooms, offices and a library. After the renovation is completed, it will house the majority of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology with more than 7,000 students and 1,000 members of staff. The new Language Center, a cafeteria, and a central service center for all students at FAU will also be located in the building. Part of the complex construction project also involves integrating a modern branch library as an extension to the existing listed building, reaching over towards the inner courtyard. The Himbeerpalast building project will generate over 28,000 square meters of floor space for the Faculty and its organizational units.

New building in Henkestraße 42

Visualization of exterior of future lecture hall complex and forecourt — The new gateway to the University: Winning design for the new building in Henkestraße 42. (Image: a+r Architekten GmbH)

Wooden model of the city of Erlangen and the new lecture hall complex — Image: EISENREICH. DRECHSEL. PARTNER. ARCHITEKTEN.

The second complex for the new Humanities Center will be located in Henkestraße 42, in the direct vicinity of the Himbeerpalast and the main student restaurant at Langemarckplatz. Split over two construction phases, this complex will house the Audimax, currently also located on the premises of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology, other lecture halls and the other institutes from the faculty.

The first construction phase for Henkestraße 42 includes the demolition of the former Organic Chemistry building and a new building on the cleared site.
In a second construction phase, the timeline for which has not yet been decided, Psychology will relocate from the premises it is currently renting in Nägelsbachstraße.
A logistics center is required as a further component of the Humanities Center. We have not yet finally decided where it will be located or when it will be implemented, but it does not necessarily have to be located in the city center.