The future planetarium of the University of Strasbourg.

View from Boulevard de la Victoire.

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Frenak + Jullien Architects

  • Work on the new Strasbourg planetarium has started.

  • This digital planetarium will make it possible to discover the universe in an immersive way but also to share scientific advances and the experience of Strasbourg academics.

  • The new buildings and installations will also participate in the change of the Victory sector, in Neustadt.

Strasbourg will soon have its head in the stars.

Already equipped with an astronomical observatory [let's not forget the famous heritage room with its dome and its large telescope], the University of Strasbourg (Unistra) will be equipped with a latest generation planetarium which will allow scientists to share their knowledge with the general public.

The site has just been launched.

The planetarium with its 138 seats will offer a 15-meter digital screen, placing it in the top 20 fixed planetariums in France.

"It is a gateway to scientific culture at the university and will allow a change of dimension thanks to educational sequences, very visual, which really touch the wonder", welcomes Milene Wendling, her manager at within Unistra.

"We could even lose our bearings a bit"

The projection room will be configured to immerse the public, often school children, with their heads in the stars.

“We could even lose our bearings a bit, because there will be no other light pollution.

The screen dome will be low, to reinforce this feeling of being in a starry sky, or in the universe, specifies Milene Wendling.

And the digital projection will be of high resolution, very contrasting.

Another novelty, a scientific mediator will pilot the session for greater interaction with the public.

Future planetarium of the University of Strasbourg.

View from the Parvis Geologie.

- Frenak + Jullien Architects

These future infrastructures but also new developments will propel the Victoire area in Neustadt into the future.

Also changing the face of this corner of Strasbourg, a bit sleepy, with a curvaceous architecture and volcanic burnt wood.

The planetarium will take a conical shape and the reception area of ​​the Jardin des Sciences, a university service dedicated to sharing knowledge with the public, will be cylindrical.

A diverse cultural offer

Finally, adjoining the screening room are planned, a cafeteria, a shop, a waiting room and another dedicated to welcoming schoolchildren.

This new place will also make it possible to inform visitors about the other cultural proposals of the university, of the botanical garden, reinforced by the proximity of the zoological museum, whose renovation is also planned.

Strasbourg residents will therefore be able to take full advantage of a double living space, with a more accessible planetarium [less isolated than the one nestled in one of the Observatory buildings] and a new, more open park, connecting the Boulevard de la Victoire to the street of the University.

“It's not every day that a new planetarium emerges,” says Milene Wendling.

We will still have to wait to take advantage of it.

Delivery is scheduled for the end of 2022.

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