Eduard von Lade has moved.

To prevent the excavators from accidentally damaging the monument to the founder of the Geisenheim research institute, it was brought to safety from the location next to the previous car park as a precautionary measure.

However, the stone Von Lade is denied a view of the greatest change in the university and research location Geisenheim since it was founded in 1872.

This turning point was triggered in 2013 by the merger of the university and the Rheingau location of the Wiesbaden University of Applied Sciences to form the youngest university in Hesse, which now has around 1,800 students.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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That is little compared to Hesse, and measured by this, the investments of the federal and state governments in the Geisenheim campus are considerable.

Science Minister Angela Dorn (Die Grünen) and Finance Minister Michael Boddenberg (CDU) announced the official start of two of several challenging construction projects on Wednesday, even if the excavators have long since cleared the construction sites and civil engineering work has already begun.

17 million euro auditorium building

There are two projects that are being financed with around 50 million euros through the Hessian Heureka program: A 17 million euros lecture hall building with space for more than 650 students as well as four seminar rooms for 300 students and a 32 million euros expensive, nationwide unique new building a beverage technology center. Among other things, research will be conducted into beer, juices, mineral water, tea and coffee. This center includes a customs warehouse, a bottle warehouse and a plant extraction laboratory. There is also a sparkling wine cellar, which is intended to play a major role in teaching the courses in viticulture and oenology, as well as in the international wine industry.

The Rheingau vocational schools will be able to use the new beverage technology center for the practical training of their federal specialist class for fruit juice technology. According to Minister Dorn, the university has earned an excellent reputation worldwide in beverage technology. This should be consolidated and strengthened. There is also a teaching and administration building for the food safety and sustainability departments. The energy-efficient buildings are to be constructed using a hybrid construction made of wood and concrete.

Her Vice President for Research, Annette Reineke, sees a “knighthood” for the young and small university in a decision made by the Science Council in April of this year.

Accordingly, the university can invest 26 million euros from federal and state funds in a "research building" for sustainable and climate-adapted viticulture.

There, the effects of climate change on the metabolism of the vine and on the entire vineyard ecosystem and its water balance will be examined.

This research building will be given a distinctive charisma by - according to Reineke - "globally unique" Ecotrone.

This includes dome-like greenhouses on the roof, in which the researchers can simulate the climate of the future for the vines.

Sustainability "of great importance"

While construction has not yet started because a greenhouse has to be moved first, a crane that can be seen from afar shows the progress made in the construction of another building for the food safety specialty, which is still young in Geisenheim. This building will probably be the first to be ready for occupancy, announced University President Hans Rainer Schultz.

Nevertheless, the entire construction work will shape the university for years: “There is no more quiet place,” admits Schultz and appeals to the noise and dust-plagued residents for understanding.

That a university campus is not developed successively over a long period of time, but rather realized “in one fell swoop”, is unusual, said Schultz.

It is the largest construction site in the Rheingau, but it is right to quickly create more space for future-oriented training.

Minister Dorn spoke of a “push forward” for Geisenheim, her cabinet colleague Boddenberg of a “promising project” for exciting and future-oriented professions.

Sustainability is very important in Hessen, and the new buildings reflect this in both architecture and teaching.