Student living and learning in Heidelberg

The »Collegium Academicum«, student housing of a different kind, is expected to be built on the »Hospital« conversion area in the Rohrbach district by 2019. 

This self-managed accommodation for around 200 students fulfils social responsibility at various levels. Particularly noteworthy is the educational concept, which is integrated into the house in »propaedeutic studies«. Up to 50 places are available in the existing building. Furthermore, project-based studying is to be offered for the neighborhood, the district and in the city. 

This hall of residence follows the principle of sufficiency (the quality of comfortable necessities), which is reflected in the four-story timber building. This becomes, for instance, apparent in the flexible living space design.

The architect — Hans Drexler from Frankfurt — was selected with the help of the IBA by means of a workshop procedure and has made a decisive contribution to obtain funding of around € 2.2 million from the Federal Ministry of Construction under the »Variowohnungen« funding program of the »Zukunft-BAU« research initiative. This is complemented by research funds from the German Federal Environmental Foundation. Financing through direct loans in accordance with the »Mietshäuser Syndikat« model is a task that the volunteer group faces daily with support from the IBA and the City of Heidelberg. The project is an example of a successful bottom-up process in which the initiators have become investors and the IBA helps future occupants to proconversion areas, the project will enrich the university city.