Unique Research Building Takes Shape

Interior construction of the INCYTE research building is in full swing. The building on the Adolf Reichwein campus of the University of Siegen is scheduled for completion in March 2025 – and will give a massive boost to research.

Everything about the University of Siegen’s new INCYTE research building sets new standards. This includes a light-flooded atrium opens up over all four floors in the entrance area; gigantic ventilation systems ensure absolutely clean and particle-free air in the so-called clean rooms; and laboratories are built underground into the rock, with walls completely clad with aluminum plates to guarantee the best conditions for ultra-sensitive microscopes. Visitors to INCYTE (Interdisciplinary Laboratory Building for Nanoanalytics, Nanochemistry and Cyber-Physical Sensor Technologies) cannot help but come away impressed. The interior construction is currently in full swing, with completion scheduled for March 2025. Both the time and cost framework are expected to be met, explains University Rector Prof. Dr. Stefanie Reese proudly: "It’s a tremendous accomplishment, and my sincere thanks go out to everyone involved in the planning and implementation! INCYTE represents a significant boost to the reputation and attractiveness of our university."

 The research building, which cost roughly 100 million euros to build,  is a novelty in the German university landscape in many ways, explains Prof. Dr. Peter Haring Bolívar, who conceived and championed the INCYTE project together with numerous colleagues from the university. Firstly, there is the principle of sharing, which is consistently pursued in the research building – and which is reflected inside, for example, in the design of open and flexibly usable work areas. "Scientists from a wide variety of disciplines share state-of-the-art laboratories and large-scale equipment, personnel, workplaces and, last but not least, ideas. You could say that the principle of sharing has been cast into the very concrete here at INCYTE," Professor Haring Bolívar says.

This creates a model platform for globally competitive research, Rector Prof. Reese explains. That role is drawing recognition in Düsseldorf, the state capital: "The Ministry of Culture and Science believes in our concept and has been providing outstanding support, for which I am very grateful." Instead of researching in individual silos of their discipline, scientists at INCYTE research together – and thus live the theme of interdisciplinarity.

The combination of research areas in INCYTE is also unique nationwide: The development of intelligent sensors will be combined here in the future with nanoanalytics. Siegen professor Dr. Manuela Killian is an expert in this field and researches material properties on structures as small as millionths of a millimeter – with the aim of giving surfaces completely new properties and functionalities. Added to this at INCYTE is research at the biomolecular level, for example when it comes to developing new sensors for virus detection. "This will be a huge boost for basic research in natural sciences, engineering, and life sciences at our university," President Reese believes.

All this places the highest demands on the building, as becomes clear when looking at the clean rooms under construction: For the complex ventilation technology, a separate level was installed under the ceiling, with dozens of square ventilation systems already mounted on it and thousands of meters of cables still hanging from the ceiling and waiting to be connected. An absolutely clean environment is existentially important in the clean room, says Professor Haring Bolívar: "A modern transistor has the order of magnitude of a human hair diameter divided by 10,000. In comparison, a grain of dust is huge!" An airlock area and thick glass walls shield the work areas.

The tour continues to the laboratory rooms of nanoanalytics: They were built seven meters deep into the rock to create optimal conditions for the highly sensitive electron microscopy systems. To ensure that the microscopes are vibration-free, they are also attached to a separate, 100-ton concrete foundation. Aluminum walls ensure that no magnetic field fluctuations are noticeable – for good reason: the devices housed in this section are so sensitive that they can even register the electromagnetic radiation of the trains that drive through Weidenau, all the way down the hill from campus.

A demanding construction project of this scale can only work if all involved work together optimally, says Michael Siepmann, the project manager at the university's construction unit: "My special thanks go to the Ministry and the university management, as well as to the Building and Real Estate Management (BLB) NRW as the client – the cooperation was excellent from the start." The architecture is deliberately designed to provide insights into research at INCYTE. For example, the glass on the ground floor allows a view from the outside – in the future, curious passers-by and visiting school classes will be able to watch the researchers at work in the laboratories.

In addition to clean rooms, microscopy laboratories, and biochemical research areas, the building houses rooms for lectures, around 200 workplaces and spaces for visiting scientists. A bicycle cellar with a shower area will also be set up: "We think that INCYTE should be attractive as a place to research and work for students and employees alike. This will attract excellent scientists," says Professor Haring Bolívar, who also expects external guests: "Cooperations with renowned universities and research institutions such as Stanford, Berkeley, and Jülich are planned. Companies from outside the region have also already expressed interest."

Background
The INCYTE research building has a net usable area of around 5,200 square meters, of which almost 1,000 square meters are underground. The total costs of around 100 million euros are borne by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The university receives further funding for large-scale equipment, some of which is being newly acquired – Professor Benjamin Butz recently received approval for two systems totaling roughly 2.7 million euros. A total of around 50 different trades and almost 20 service providers are involved in the construction of the INCYTE building.

The INCYTE research building is being built at the northern end of the Adolf-Reichwein-Straße campus of the University of Siegen.