New Research Center for Innovative Liquids

In the shape of CALEDO, a research center for the design of fluids for new and better technical processes and products is being established at TU Dortmund University that will have international visibility. With each contributing half, the federal government and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia are sharing the funding of around € 72 million for the research building, which was one of the winners in a tough nationwide competition. “Top-class research requires an outstanding infrastructure, including research buildings such as CALEDO. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research makes available over € 300 million each year in support of investment projects at higher education institutions that are of particular scientific quality and supra-regional significance,” said Dr. Michael Meister, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research.

Klaus Kaiser, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, said: “We as the federal state are helping TU Dortmund University to build the new CALEDO research center in order to enhance research excellence in the Ruhr region and to further empower the outstanding researchers at the University in the fields of biochemical and chemical engineering. The research work conducted at CALEDO is intended, among others, to make an important contribution to the planned research center for the development of durable, eco-friendly products. This is currently being set up as part of the Ruhr Conference initiated by the regional government. I am pleased that we as a federal state, together with the federal government, can make our contribution here, and I wish TU Dortmund as well as everyone involved every success for the construction of the new research center.”

Dort­mun­d rhinoceros and CALEDO funding notification for the time capsule

Together with Professor Manfred Bayer, president of TU Dortmund University, Gabriele Willems from BLB NRW (the regional authority responsible for building and real estate management), architect Professor Eckhard Gerber and Professor Gabriele Sadowski, spokesperson for the research building, the two parliamentary state secretaries filled a time capsule. Among other things, they placed in it a small TU logo, the funding application, the funding notification, construction plans and the latest issue of a local daily newspaper. Thomas Westphal, Lord Mayor of Dortmund, took part in the ceremony with a video message and a winged rhinoceros. Together, the participants lowered the capsule for the new building into a walled cube.

Responsibility for the project’s realization lies with BLB NRW. “I am delighted that we are laying the foundation stone here today and that this highly exciting and challenging project is now entering the next phase,” said Gabriele Willems, BLB NRW’s managing director. “I’m particularly looking forward to watching how this fascinating building will take shape over the next few years thanks to the good collaboration between our project team and TU Dortmund University.” The building will have around 4,000 m2 of usable space and approximately 100 workplaces in modern laboratories. Visually, the building on Otto-Hahn-Strasse on North Campus will be an eye-catcher: It will have reddish brickwork, with rounded corners and uninterrupted windows all round. According to the current time schedule, the stakeholders involved expect construction to take about four years. CALEDO was designed by internationally renowned Gerber Architects from Dortmund.

Infrastructure for top-class international research

“CALEDO will provide the infrastructure for top-class international research conducted at TU Dortmund University and in cooperation with the University Alliance Ruhr,” said Professor Manfred Bayer, president of TU Dortmund University. Liquid phases for eco-friendly and innovative processes in chemistry and biotechnology or for pharmaceutical products will be customized in the laboratories. The aim is to explore the interactions between molecules in order to significantly reduce the number of expensive and time-consuming experiments.

Various working groups at TU Dortmund University from the Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology as well as the Department of Physics are already working on some aspects of the topic. Among the results of this successful work is also the RESOLV Cluster of Excellence applied for in cooperation with Ruhr University Bochum. The research work conducted at CALEDO will also make an important contribution to the new “Chemical Sciences and Sustainability” research center of the University Alliance Ruhr.

Note: From February 2022, an exhibition featuring the CALEDO research building will be on display on the university floor of the “Dortmunder U” center for arts and creativity, which will show how a research building is planned and built as well as explain the research work to be conducted there.

Film about CALEDO by Gerber Architects

Impressions from the laying of the foundation stone: