TUM Campus in Olympiapark officially dedicated

5/16/2022
Reading time 2 min.

The new TUM Campus in Munich's Olympiapark was officially dedicated on Monday, exactly four years after the groundbreaking ceremony. The building and the overall facilities will primarily be used by the Department of Sport and Health Sciences of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), with approximately 3,000 student users per semester, as well as by the Munich University Sports Center with around 17,000 active athletes per semester from all of Munich's universities and colleges.

Big step for TUM's Sports and Health Science: Handing over the keys to the new building at the TUM Campus in the Olympic Park with (from left) Construction Minister Christian Bernreiter, Science Minister Markus Blume, President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann, Dean Prof. Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz and Michael Hahn, Head of Central University Sports Munich.

The complex was designed by architects Dietrich | Untertrifaller from Bregenz (Austria) and landscape architects Balliana Schubert of Zurich (Switzerland). Indoor sports halls are complemented with institutional buildings, laboratories, a library and a student cafeteria for Sport and Health Sciences. The State of Bavaria invested 168.5 million euros in the project.

The objective behind the 185 meter long, 153 meter wide new building was to retain and continue the original composition of landscape and architecture in the northern part of the Olympiapark, itself created in 1972. A concept combining urban design and landscape planning was developed to meet the multifunctional requirements of the complex, totaling 34 hectares.

The building is mainly made of wood and glass, with special attention paid to accessibility for those with disabilities. One highlight of the new building is the 18 meter overhanging canopy roof made of wood, running along the west side of the building over the outdoor terrace and part of the newly constructed track and field facility. The heart of the new complex is called the "Rue intérieure", a throughway forming a connecting axis from the main entrance on the east side to the exit on the west side, linking all the building parts with one another. The walkway gives visitors a clear view into the sport halls, lecture halls and fully glazed seminar rooms.

Enthusiasm about the new building

During an official dedication ceremony, Bavarian State Minister for Housing, Construction and Transport Christian Bernreiter turned over the key to the new building to Bavarian Minister of Science and the Arts Markus Blume and TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann.

Science minister Blume said at the dedication ceremonies: "This is how the Champions' League works: The TUM sports campus in Olympiapark is one of the most modern locations for Sport and Health Sciences in Europe. The consolidation of the two disciplines in a single university facility is unique in Germany. TUM is raising the bar when it comes to scientific involvement in competitive sports, sports science, collegiate athletics and preventive health care, a course headed for the future! This new building provides the best possible prerequisites for cutting-edge research and training."

Construction minister Bernreiter commented: "I'm thrilled by this project, this is an incredible complex. And here's a special aspect: 80 percent of the building consists of wood, which is fantastic. Wood is a sustainable building material that also binds CO2. We as the State of Bavaria are setting a great example with this construction."

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann stated: "The legacy of the 1972 Olympic Games obliges us to constantly seek optimistic new horizons. And this is precisely the reason why we are giving a future-oriented profile to health improvement and prevention at the department, guiding it into the scope of our medical activities, including their expertise in precision diagnostics and personalized therapies. Accordingly, the Department of Sport and Health Sciences will join with Medicine to form the TUM School of Medicine and Health starting in October 2023. In this configuration we want to explore how we can prolong the good health of humans with movement and nutritional concepts and personalized interventions. This is an important, significant step in the context of the increasing challenges faced by our health care system."

Prof. Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz, Dean of the Department of Sport and Health Sciences, said: "The new campus, with its unusual architecture, its bright appearance and its impressive situation amidst the Olympic complex, draws attention to a modern faculty and makes prevention research visible and tangible in the context of human movement. It conveys this knowledge to our ambassadors, the over 3,000 students of Sport and Health Sciences, as well to future physical education teachers."

Thanks for support from BayWa

In the course of the dedication ceremonies TUM President Hofmann officially named the main lecture hall 1 of the TUM Campus in Olympiapark the "BayWa Hörsaal", in gratitude for the many years of patronage by the BayWa Foundation on behalf of the Technical University of Munich.

The new construction at the TUM Campus in Olympiapark is currently in the third phase. Here the existing gymnasiums are being demolished, while the remaining buildings including the pending office areas and interior courtyards will be added by 2024.

Technical University of Munich

Corporate Communications Center

Contacts to this article:

Prof. Dr. Renate Oberhoffer-Fritz
Dean, Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Tel.: +49 (0)89 289 24601
E-Mail: renate.oberhoffer@tum.de
www.sg.tum.de