Forum at Domshof
The University in the City Center
University Sets the Tone in Forum at Domshof
In addition to Faculty 06: Law, the Center of Labor and Politics (ZAP), the Institute for Labour and Economy (iaw), and HERE AHEAD, as well as the Juridicum, the law branch library of the Bremen State and University Library (SuUB), have moved into the Forum at Domshof building – the University of Bremen’s new location in the city center. On this website, the University of Bremen shares views of the rooms, as well as information about the move and the building’s history.
Look Inside: Virtual Tour of the Building
Room for Learning, Teaching, and Working
Of the 18,150 square meter floor space (not including the inner courtyard) the university's main rental space including the cafeteria and the former banking hall encompasses around 13,460 square meters. The adjacent areas are spread across three floors and total around 4,690 square meters. Constructed in 2016, the building was formerly used by NordLB.
Experience Science
The entrance area was formerly a banking hall. The spacious area with its high ceilings offers an ideal location for events and activities and will be able to be used by the public as well. Different science events will be held here. The benches can be moved aside to make space for chairs and hosting a large audience.
Historic Bank Aesthetic with Modern Ambience
The architectural design is evident in the banking hall as well as the sixth floor. Inspired by the optic of pompous banks of former times, the former banking hall boasts walls with oak paneling as well as wooden counters and black leather furniture. The colors red and green are present throughout – in the flooring of the banking hall, as well as red linoleum and carpeting in the event rooms. Red is reminiscent of the cobblestones in Bremen's city center and green as a complementary color to provide contrast.
Entrance to the Inner Courtyard
In the lower area next to the former banking hall, a Studierendenwerk cafeteria was created. A passageway to the inner courtyard provides extra seating and ensures that the coffee from the Studierendenwerk can be enjoyed outside as well.
Study Spaces for Students in the Law Library
The Juridicum, the legal library of the State and University Library Bremen, provides the law students, whose courses now mainly take place in Forum at Domshof, convenient access to specialist literature. Foresight was crucial for planning the secure mounting of the bookcases. Per square meter, completely full bookcases bear a load of 1.2 tons. Fixtures were installed directly into the concrete floors for these, which means that they will not be able to be moved afterwards. Study spaces are provided along the glass panels of the legal library as well as in separate rooms. On the mezzanine below, there are learning rooms for both group work and silent individual study.
Various Rooms for Lectures
Several classrooms in varying sizes were created on different floors. These include small seminar rooms that can host about 30 people, as well as large lecture halls with about 135 seats for the full range of courses offered. Establishing these required combining several of the former offices. On the sixth floor, conference rooms were created. The biggest challenge was updating the fire protection, emergency escape routes, and the ventilation system to accommodate for the increase in traffic now compared to during its use as a bank.
Offices for Faculty 06 and the Institutions
In addition to study spaces and classrooms, the new building also provides offices for the administration, teaching staff, and employees of iaw, ZAP, and HERE AHEAD. These are spread out across the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors. Only minor alterations to the bank offices in the floor plan were necessary for creating these. The building's characteristic wide corridors has been kept as well. These not only provide escape routes and fire protection, but also allow room for additional seating.
University Cafeteria Domshof
NordLB already had a cafeteria on the sixth floor, which the Studierendenwerk Bremen revamped to create a student cafeteria. Students and employees have meal options directly in the Forum at Domshof building. The cafeteria offers many seating options that can be used outside of the cafeteria's opening hours. This provides students and employees with places to meet and talk.
Parent-Child Playroom
On the fifth floor, the family service office has set up a children’s playroom as well as a nursing room for university students, employees, and guests to use with their children. The playroom provides toys and comfortable seating for a relaxing stay. On the same floor, the nursing room offers peace and privacy.
Bicycle Garage
You can enter the parking garage by bike via Domshof, and are provided with 200 covered bicycle racks that are both freely accessible and free of charge.
Historic Facade
Even though the majority of the building was rebuilt in 2016, part of the historic facade has remained and is protected as a historical monument. Today, the narrow, elongated windows in the interior are still reminiscent of the old building. The original building was repeatedly extended over the years, which meant that it consisted of four separate buildings with around 65 staircases before the conversion. In order to use the rooms more efficiently, the building was reconstructed and the floor plan redesigned.
