Showrooms & Prototyping – Demand-Oriented Development of Future-Proof Standards
Why the Development of Teaching Spaces Matters
The University of Hamburg faces the task of further developing its teaching and learning spaces to meet the demands of innovative, learner-centered education today. Many rooms are still equipped with outdated technology or have heterogeneous furnishings, which complicates the implementation of modern teaching formats. To ensure high-quality teaching sustainably and to continuously advance it, we need clear standards and proven concepts that can be applied across the diverse university environment.
What We Do
As part of our project, we develop so-called showrooms – model and pilot rooms – for different teaching and learning scenarios. We distinguish between rooms for group work, seminar rooms, and lecture halls. The goal is to establish university-wide standards for their equipment to make them flexible and future-proof.
Together with facilities management, we are implementing various showrooms:
- A flexible seminar room of medium size equipped with modern technology for hybrid teaching formats.
- Several group workspaces for students to promote collaborative work and idea exchange.
- A small lecture hall that enables hybrid teaching and also supports collaborative phases.
Involving teachers and students, who help design and evaluate the spaces, is key. For example, in 2024, two so-called Huddle Rooms were set up in the Mathematics Library – small, flexible spaces that encourage joint work, brainstorming, and small-group learning.
UHH/Heinecke
The experiences gained from these pilot projects feed into the planning of future spaces, such as in the new “House of the Earth” of the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics, and Natural Sciences (MIN), where additional group workspaces based on different concepts are to be created.
Photo: UHH/Heinecke
Draft designs for student group workrooms in the “House of the Earth”: “Cubicles”
Photo: UHH/Heinecke
Draft designs for student group workrooms in the “House of the Earth”: “Kitchen”
Photo: UHH/Heinecke
Draft designs for student group workrooms in the “House of the Earth”: “Standing table”
How We Make an Impact
Our goal is to develop standards for different types of spaces that will influence future new buildings and be continuously adapted to societal and technological changes. The showrooms serve as initial testing grounds where technical, didactic, and architectural aspects are evaluated.
In the long term, we aim to establish a teaching and learning space development strategy that:
- Promotes cross-departmental collaboration among relevant stakeholders.
- Systematically tackles the modernization of existing spaces.
- Strategically supports planning for new teaching and learning spaces.
- Is aligned with proven typologies and standards.
Through this approach, individual pilot projects will evolve into a sustainable, structural transformation—turning ordinary teaching spaces rooms into active partners in shaping a future-proof University of Hamburg.