Extension building for CISPA 

CISPA is expanding its research center in Saarbrücken's Stuhlsatzenhaus. On Thursday, March 10, 2022, the foundation stone for the new research and office building was laid.The extension will create space for around 170 researchers and is urgently needed. Due to CISPA's ongoing rapid growth, staff members have had to be spread across several locations in recent years, which presents a particular challenge in day-to-day collaboration.

CISPA Founding Director and CEO Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Michael Backes: "Today's groundbreaking ceremony marks a milestone in CISPA's rapid growth story. The new building is being built as a precursor to a large research campus that will enable space for innovative and modern work and life. We look forward to the next milestones and continuing to shape the future of CISPA and the region."  

Minister-President Tobias Hans: "CISPA has developed from a BMBF project into an international research center with charisma. Despite current difficult conditions due to the pandemic, CISPA is fully on course for growth. However, the intended further development of CISPA also needs space. Therefore, I am very pleased to symbolically lay the foundation stone for CISPA's first extension today. This building, financed by the federal and state governments, marks the beginning of CISPA's planned spatial expansion into an innovative high-tech research campus. With this, we will continue to play in the Champions League."

Minister for Economic Affairs Anke Rehlinger: "The CISPA Helmholtz Center is a diamond for Saarland, and with the new extension, it will sparkle even more. The home for jobs of the future is being created here. Cybersecurity is more important today than ever. CISPA is the institution that will provide answers to the questions of the future surrounding digitalization and IT security. I am glad that the extension building is now becoming a reality. Incidentally, this strengthens not only our IT location, but also the Saarland as a whole, as a place where people can live and work well. Only if we continue to push ahead with such projects decisively will we be able to preserve existing jobs and create new ones at the same time."

Architect Stephan Kauert: "We as HPP General Planners are pleased to be involved in the planning and realization of this building of outstanding significance. For the past two years, we have been working together with great commitment in a team working at locations throughout Germany to complete the extension as a further step towards the CISPA Campus.

The building will be located in the immediate vicinity of the current CISPA main building at Stuhlsatzenhaus 5 and is scheduled for completion by fall 2023. In addition to a large data center, approximately 170 office workstations, three large meeting rooms and a foyer that will provide space for science receptions and other events, the addition will also house a dining hall. Equipped with 250 to 300 seats, it will be able to feed between 800 and 1,000 people a day. The extension is only the first step towards the CISPA campus and the excellent research and working environment that will be created around the main building in the coming years. Large factory and test halls, a guest house, a showroom, laboratories, and, prospectively, a dedicated daycare center are still to come. 

translated by Oliver Schedler