New building for the Institute of Sport and Sport Science

(Dr. Guido Rijkhoek) The Institute of Sport and Sport Science at the University of Kassel is getting a new home. The 4.48 million euro building will be constructed as an extension to the sports hall in Damaschkestraße, which is used jointly by the city and the university.

This week, work began on the construction site in the immediate vicinity of the Auestadion. The building is due to be completed and handed over to the institute in spring 2013.

The construction is necessary due to the spatial reorganization of the university. The institute located on Heinrich-Plett-Straße is to leave the so-called Aufbau- und Verfügungszentrum, but unlike the natural science facilities, it will not move to the Holländischer Platz campus. Instead, the planners have decided to relocate to Damaschkestraße, which means that the sports scientists will be close to the ice rink and Auestadion in future. This will also bring the University of Kassel's sports science department together in one location.

The planned two-storey concrete frame building will have an aluminum cassette façade on the north and south sides. The east and west sides will have a mullion and transom façade on the first floor and ribbon windows with balustrades on the upper floor. On the first floor, the new institute will be connected to the sports hall inaugurated in 1984/85, but will form an independent structure whose architecture deliberately stands out from its surroundings. The building has a total usable area of 1,041 square meters. On the first floor, it is designed as an extended circulation area with a foyer, seating and standing areas. The upper floors will house the specialist areas, offices and the institute's own media library, which can be used as a multifunctional room.

In order to take account of the increasing interest in sports facilities with variable schedules, particularly fitness and health sports, a weights and fitness room will also be built as an extension to the new institute building. The new Institute for Sports Science is being financed by the HEUREKA investment program, under which the state of Hesse is planning to invest 226 million euros in construction measures at the University of Kassel.