50 Years of the Geomatikum

30 June 2025

Photo: UHH/Lange

Fifty years ago today, on June 30, 1975, the newly built Geomatikum was officially handed over to the Hamburg Department of Science and Art, and thus to the University of Hamburg.

Despite the extensive equipment, including laboratories, libraries, lecture halls, a museum, and even service apartments, the construction period was less than three years. The costs of 85 million Deutsche Marks (approximately 46.5 million euros) were shared by the City of Hamburg and the federal government.

Since the spring, several institutes and facilities have gradually moved into the new building. The first to move in in March were the then-institution-in-formation Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and parts of the Institute of Geophysics. Our Meteorological Institute followed in May, together with the Institute of Geography and Economic Geography. Later, the entire Department of Mathematics, the Geological-Paleontological Institute, and the administration of the Department of Geosciences also relocated. As a result, the Geomatikum – and especially the 16th floor – has been our home for meteorologists for 50 years.

There are surely as many opinions about the optics and functionality of the Geomatikum as there are users. The building, designed in the Brutalist style by architects Bobzin, Doose, and Krüger, was considered modern and forward-looking at the time. However, after just 15 years, issues became apparent: problems with the seven elevators, malfunctioning automatic exterior sun protection, noisy and inefficient ventilation, and a student canteen that was much too small — originally not even planned as such. The reputation of the Geomatikum was already declining. Around the turn of the millennium, the foyer was redesigned with green lighting elements, a large green concrete wall in the entrance hall, behind which coin copiers and vending machines were hidden, was replaced by a cafeteria. The elevator system was fundamentally renewed, and the sun protection was — completely turned off.

Today, the Geomatikum is certainly not a jewel, neither inside nor outside. But today, we overlook these aspects, quoting Professor Dr. Klaus Hasselmann, who was then the first director of the Max Planck Institute and is now a Nobel laureate. In his speech on the founding of the institute on December 5, 1975, he said:
“We consider it particularly fortunate that we could be housed together with several university institutes involved in the special research area in this beautiful building [...].”
(„Wir empfinden es als besonders glücklich, daß wir zusammen mit mehreren am Sonderforschungsbereich beteiligten Universitätsinstituten in diesem schönen Gebäude untergebracht werden konnten [...].“)

Sources: uni hh, Hamburger Abendblatt, Wikipedia, mapofarchitecture.com, personal communications
Article of the architects with photos and background information: https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.1976.v29.i283.2731 (Spanish)

(This news article was translated from German to English by UHHGPT.)