Design: Nickl & Partner Architekten AG

The groundbreaking for the first expansion phase at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) in Mülheim an der Ruhr took place on 5 September 2017 to mark the start of construction. Professor Robert Schlögl, Managing Director of the MPI CEC, took the opportunity to thank the project’s numerous supporters. Speeches by Annette Storsberg, State Secretary in the Ministry for Culture and Science, and Mayor Ulrich Scholten followed.

The buildings will be completed in several phases. The workshop building, which houses the mechanics, offices, workshop areas, test hall, laboratories and the electrical engineering workshop, will be built in the first construction phase. The laboratory building in the second phase provides urban development closure at the ravine to the north, while interacting with the physics building to form a gateway to the site. The focal point of the institute expansion will emerge with completion of the four-storey office building, which will also be built in the second construction phase. This can also be seen in its urban development alignment and character. Centrally placed at the heart of the entire site, it creates the connection between old and new and is the first point of contact.

A complete functional, liveable ensemble with a campus character will be developed with individual, informally arranged extension buildings.