RWTH Aachen Names Architect for Photonics Cluster

New York-based Kohn Pederson Fox Associates has been chosen as the architect team for the new photonics cluster at the technology research university RWTH Aachen Campus GmbH. Designs were presented to the public for the first time on Friday. As part of a Europe-wide selection process, the university also named ante4C GmbH as an investor in the project.

Architect's drawing of the new photonics cluster at the RWTH Aachen campus. Courtesy KPF Assoc.

Together, ante4C, a consortium of Germany's Landmarks AG in Aachen and CZP Investments BV in the Netherlands, and Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF) will invest €11.5 million (about $14.3 million) in the project, the university said.

The first building complex in the photonics cluster, 7000 sq m of office and lab space, will be built near the office of the chair for laser technology and the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT) on the campus boulevard. More than 70 percent of the space has already been rented out to research partners, and about 120 scientists will start their research in the first phase, scheduled for the summer of 2015. The building eventually will expand to a total of 40,000 sq m.

"The modern building and the spatial proximity offer future scientists ideal research conditions and outstanding synergy effects in a strategic collaboration between university research and education and innovation, industrial research and development," said professor Reinhart Poprawe, head of the photonics cluster at RWTH Aachen and the university's chair for laser technology.

Construction is expected to begin this winter.

For more information, visit: www.rwth-aachen.de