University “Ideal Facilities for State-of-the-Art Teaching”

“audiMAX bears witness to the university as a place where people meet to study together, share their thinking and, driven by curiosity and scientific exchange, seek new insights,” underlined Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior. The Rector of Ruperto Carola was able to welcome a large crowd of visitors – including mainly students – for the ceremonial opening of the new lecture hall and study center on the Im Neuenheimer Feld campus. There Heidelberg University has gained a new architectural centerpiece and a central location for teaching, learning and exchange. The Rector especially thanked the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, which erected the five-storey building complex and has presented it to the state of Baden-Württemberg as a gift: “You are investing not only in infrastructure, but also in the future of our students,” she said.

“When we started planning a few years ago it was a fantastic project,” recalls Udo Tschira, a member on the advisory board of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung. When teaching was shifted to the digital space during the Covid pandemic the project became “downright bold”. But, Udo Tschira continued, “we still pressed ahead” – convinced that excellent teaching needs in-person classes. “And because we are certain that good architecture for learning can inspire people to think above and beyond themselves.” All the speakers at the evening event underlined that this had been achieved with audiMAX. “This space is gigantic,” added foundation Co-President Lilian Knobel, when taking a look inside audiMAX, the new huge auditorium. “You can see here what modern teaching can look like.”

Petra Olschowski, science minister of the state of Baden-Württemberg, was equally enthusiastic. The lecture hall and study center, with its “ideal facilities for state-of-the-art teaching”, is not only a huge enrichment for the campus and the university, she said. With its open, inviting architecture it also offers the opportunity to carry science more strongly into society. The minister likewise expressed her gratitude to the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, which had made the project possible: “How lucky can a state be to have such foundations.” 

University Rector Frauke Melchior turned with warm personal appreciation to representatives of the Tschira family as well, among them Gerda Tschira, wife of the late founder Klaus Tschira and herself an Honorary Senator of Heidelberg University. “You have created spaces in which young people can develop. Spaces in which ideas spring up that will bear fruit far beyond this campus,” said Prof. Melchior. “Your lasting engagement for this university is anything but a matter of course. It is the expression of a profound understanding of the significance of education and research for our society.”

As the Rector went on to emphasize, the new lecture hall and study center creates ideal spatial conditions for the research-oriented teaching “that is so important to us and decisive in shaping the profile of Heidelberg University.” The concern was not only to “feed the students with knowledge” but to introduce them to scientific thinking and innovative research as early as possible. In-person teaching was paramount for this, she stated. That was also underlined by the five participants – including students and teachers – in a conversation on “audiMAX – Space for Tomorrow’s Teaching and Learning”, moderated by Prof. Dr Silke Hertel, Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Teaching. Digital teaching can supplement and improve a study course, but it cannot replace direct exchange in lectures, seminars or, also, small groups. “And here we have perfect preconditions for that,” Prof. Hertel noted. 

audiMAX, the lecture hall and study center completed after a six-year construction period, will fulfil important functions for the Im Neuenheimer Feld campus, in particular for student affairs and teaching, information, communication and scientific exchange. The Auditorium Maximum itself takes pride of place – with seating for over 900 people, which makes it the largest lecture hall at Heidelberg University. Added to this, there are seminar and training rooms as well as two science lecture halls. The building complex, which is accessible from all sides and has a usable surface of around 8,700 square meters, is notable for its open structure and linked to the campus outside via generous-sized “study stairs” with steps that can also serve as seats, which are already proving very popular. 

Besides the central Campus Library with around 440 reading and work places, spacious study and communal areas offer room for private study, group learning, meet-ups and communication. The entrance hall is designed to cater for differing event formats and also serves to showcase the university’s collections and museums. After the Mathematikon – home to the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Faculty of Engineering Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing – audiMAX is the second large new university building in Heidelberg that the Klaus Tschira Stiftung has gifted to the state of Baden-Württemberg. 

The ceremonial opening of audiMAX, the new lecture hall and study center, took place on 16 April. Accompanying the festive occasion were musical items by members of the Collegium Musicum under the baton of University Music Director Michael Sekulla.