The Georg Forster Building was completed in May 2013 and houses four of the six institutes of Faculty 02: the Institute of Education, the Institute of Sociology, the Institute of Political Science and the Institute of Public Studies.
The Dean’s Office and the central examination office of Faculty 02 are also located in this building.
It also houses the Department of Art History of Faculty 07 and the departmental library as well as a canteen of the Studierendenwerk.
Faculty 02 has decided to name the new building for the social sciences, art history and the departmental library after Georg Forster, firstly because he is an important Mainz personality and secondly because his life has strong links to the subjects represented in the building and the library.
Georg Forster, born 1754 in Nassenhuben near Danzig, died 1794 in Paris, was a naturalist who sailed around the world with Captain James Cook and later traveled the Lower Rhine with the young Alexander von Humboldt. He worked as a journalist and essayist and produced numerous drawings of exotic plants and animals. During his travels, he studied foreign peoples and was also politically active in the Mainz Republic. Finally, he held the post of Mainz University Librarian from 1788.
Here you can read more detailed information about Georg Forster.
The new building for the social sciences connects the Philosophicum with the Central Library and is an important milestone in the urban development of the Gutenberg Campus. This ensemble of buildings, which bears the name of the Mainz natural scientist Georg Forster and was completed in May 2013, promises to sustainably improve the framework conditions for research and teaching in order to further develop and harness the great potential of the humanities and social sciences in Mainz.
The state of Rhineland-Palatinate invested 53.4 million euros in this five-storey building, where around 7,000 students and around 180 employees teach, learn and conduct research.
The modern architecture with generous glazing integrates five institutes and functional areas such as the library and canteen, 20 seminar rooms, three PC pools and 225 offices on a usable area of 10,574 square meters.
The library is designed as an “open space library” and extends over two floors with a main usable area of 3,850 square meters. The levels are connected via a large air space and are also lit via a green inner courtyard.
The Georg Forster building was designed as a so-called three-liter house. Energy efficiency means here: Only 30 kWh per square meter of net floor area is required for annual heating energy. Photovoltaic systems are used to generate solar power, as Mainz is a good location for this with global radiation of over 1,060 kilowatt hours per square meter.
The south side of the Georg Forster building impresses with a glass façade on which trees and writing are printed. The text on this glass wall reproduces famous, trend-setting, pointed or even humorous quotes on the topics of science, research and knowledge – around 500 statements from 250 clever minds. The collection is neither in chronological order nor does it claim to be complete. Not all the quotes are from scientists and not all are historically verified in terms of wording or content. The primary aim of this collection is not to present statements with historical accuracy, but to outline the epistemological debate in science that has been going on for centuries and to make the progressive reflection documented therein visible. It is a kaleidoscope of short and concise statements that are intended to stimulate lingering and reflection – some you may agree with, others you may disagree with.
Numerous colleagues from the subjects housed in this building have contributed valuable suggestions to this collection. May these panes of glass make it easier for some viewers to see through things.
Here you can read all the quotes printed on the façade.
The lines of the glass print formally follow the rows of bricks of the main building and complete the building cube to the south. The text is backed with a tree structure that echoes the mood of the grove in front of the Georg Forster building and the university library. The entire print consists of ceramic paint, reflects the sunlight and thus protects the interior from the sun. 50 percent of the glass surface is printed. The thermal effect of the façade was determined in advance by simulation.
