Topping-out ceremony celebrated for new center for the humanities in Frankfurt!

Topping-out ceremony celebrated for new center for the humanities in Frankfurt!

The topping-out ceremony for the new Center for Humanities at the Goethe University Frankfurt was celebrated on May 26, 2025. This important construction project on the Westend campus is being implemented under the university's own initiative and is taking shape. The high-rise building, which covers an area of ​​2,800 square meters, will extend over seven floors and house numerous modern facilities.

The building offers space for 180 office workstations, four seminar rooms and a rehearsal stage. In addition, a large multifunctional room is provided. The shell of the center has already been completed and the roof is closed. University President Professor Enrico Schleiff expressed his satisfaction with the construction progress and the planning, which is being led by Esref Yavuz, head of the planning and construction department.

Setting up and using the center

The Center for Humanities will be built on the corner of Miquelallee and Hansallee, in the immediate vicinity of the Linguistics and Cultural Studies building and the Leibniz Institute for Human Development (DIPF). The university plans to have the building operational in 2026 to further strengthen research and teaching opportunities in the humanities and social sciences.

The design of the building, which was originally conceived as an administrative building, was adapted based on user feedback to include additional seminar rooms and a rehearsal stage. The goal is to promote interdisciplinary research and collaboration, especially with partners from the Frankfurt Alliance and the Rheine-Main Universities (RMU) in this area. For this purpose, spacious foyers with glazed exhibition rooms are provided.

Funding and support

The total costs for the demanding project amount to around 20 million euros. The building authority was transferred to the university's own construction administration. The Hessian state government is supporting the reorganization of the Westend campus with over one billion euros as part of the HEUREKA university construction investment program in order to sustainably improve teaching and research conditions by 2031.

In the third round of the HEUREKA program, 330 million euros will be awarded to Frankfurt universities. These funds are intended to provide planning security and help to develop teaching and research potential in the long term, as Hesse's Science Minister Angela Dorn explained. In addition, 170 million euros from the HEUREKA increase are earmarked for the new building in the chemistry department and for a new dentistry facility on the Niederrad campus.