Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld
The Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld will eventually span 125 hectares in Hamburg’s western suburbs, right next to Altona’s Volkspark, a public park. The University of Hamburg is already present on the research campus, with numerous initiatives and new buildings, some of which have garnered awards. For example, at the Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry (HARBOR), the Center for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHYN), and Light & Schools (the University of Hamburg’s school laboratory), the University is pursuing research, teaching, and knowledge exchange.
Hamburg’s largest university is integral to research infrastructure consisting of many different partners with whom it also cooperates, including the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY), the Center for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld GmbH is in charge of developing the premises.
By 2040, lively residential neighborhoods with sports, leisure, and shopping facilities will supplement the existing and newly built labs, offices, and lecture halls. The goal is a district in which daily living, research, and study are closely connected.
Content
People at Science City
Photo: UHH/Esfandiari
Photo: UHH/Feuerböther
Photo: UHH/Guggenberger
Photo: UHH/Esfandiari
Photo: UHH/Röttger
Photo: Marta Mayer/DESY
Campus tour
Research, work, housing, and life—the Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld project is driven by a thirst for knowledge and a desire to explore, combining urban development with campus planning. Based on a world-class research infrastructure, an integrated science district is being created with excellent research buildings and innovative start-ups.
Jan de Wolff, Head of Location Development SCHB at the University of Hamburg, talks to Karla Kleinbötling and provides exciting insights into the present and future of the university in the SCHB.
Currently in focus: HAFUN
Photo: C. F. Møller
Several buildings of the University of Hamburg are currently being planned. At HAFUN, 8 experimental physics research groups will be conducting innovative experiments on dark matter and gravitational waves. The researchers will focus on the properties of the Higgs boson elementary particle.
More information about the projectClusters at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld
Of the University’s 4 clusters of excellence, 3 are based at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld. Researchers in these alliances look at current issues in astrophysics and photon science or focus on written artifacts.
Photo: UHH/Vogiatzis
News
Photo: Private
6 November 2025|Excellence StrategyUltrafast meets ultrashort: CUI team receives prestigious ERC Synergy Grant
A research team in the Cluster of Excellence CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter at the University of Hamburg and DESY has been awarded the prestigious Synergy Grant from the European Research Council. It will receive €14 million to combine atomic-scale imaging with attosecond science, the most advanced approach to ultrafast...
Photo: Büro Luchterhandt & Partner
29 September 2025|CampusThe University’s new Science City lecture hall center is taking shape.
The Science City is growing. And so is campus of the University of Hamburg and other scientific institutions in Bahrenfeld. Aiming to provide the perfect physical infrastructure for forward-looking research, the architectural competition for the construction of the University of Hamburg’s new lecture hall center has now...
Photo: University of Hamburg / Engels
8 August 2025|CampusInterdisciplinarity is key
The Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld is changing faster than any other research center in Hamburg. On occasion, we ask University of Hamburg members to introduce their workplace in existing or planned Science City research buildings and tell us what makes their building special. Today: the Center for Hybrid Nanostructures...
Photo: University of Hamburg
3 February 2025|CampusScience City: “We Are on a Par with Garching”
The Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld is changing faster than any other research center in Hamburg. On occasion, we ask University of Hamburg members to introduce their workplace in existing or planned Science City research buildings and tell us what makes their building special. Today: the Center for Free-Electron Laser...
Photo: Barclays Arena
4 September 2024|In FocusStudying Gravitational Waves with Taylor, Justin, and the Scorpions
At the end of July, roughly 800 people simultaneously followed seismic waves per live stream generated by a Taylor Swift concert in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. The recording provided the WAVE research team with important findings and recordings of the Justin Timberlake and Scorpions’ concerts followed.
Photo: Hamburger Energiewerke
21 August 2024|CampusFirst Photovoltaic System at the University of Hamburg in Operation
A large photovoltaic system on the roof of the University of Hamburg’s Center for Hybrid Nanostructures is now generating solar energy in Science City Hamburg-Bahrenfeld—effective immediately. With about 160 kWp over a surface of over 750 square meters, it is currently one of the largest PV systems installed on a Hamburg...
Photo: UHH/Schlicht
22 July 2024|Press releaseResearchers live stream seismic waves from Taylor Swift concert
On 23 and 24 July, pop singer Taylor Swift gave 2 concerts in the Hamburg Volkspark stadium. Those who couldn't get tickets could at least watch the seismic waves created during the performance, via a live stream from the WAVE network at Science City Hamburg-Bahrenfeld.
Framing the Future
Photo: UHH/Janis-Marie Paul
The cooperation project between the Hub for Computing and Data Science (HCDS) and the Campus Development Department of the University of Excellence Hamburg takes a look at the future developments of the university's research buildings in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld – a science-shaped city!
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