For the summer semester, students and university members can look forward to new seating areas and a larger culinary offering.
Anyone entering the foyer of the university building in Wechloy is currently greeted by a lot of construction noise. Construction workers are drilling around 500 holes and shafts through ceilings and walls - important preparatory work for the modernisation and conversion of the canteen and cafeteria. The work is expected to continue until mid-May. After that, however, students and teaching staff will once again be able to stop by for a cappuccino, a hot chocolate or a tasty snack instead of the construction workers. By then, the cafeteria will have moved from the canteen one floor below to the foyer.
The university is investing around 1.9 million euros in the new cafeteria. This will give the downstairs food counter more space - no one will have to manoeuvre full coffee cups through the queue of waiting cafeteria visitors. "We're hoping to relieve the canteen's workload as we'll equalise the crowds of cafeteria and canteen visitors," says Doris Senf, head of the university catering department at Studentenwerk Oldenburg. After all, the canteen was originally only planned as a serving kitchen and has now reached its capacity limits.
Almost a tonne of coffee and around 27,000 pieces of cake were served in the canteen last year alone - in addition to lunch. In future, visitors to the cafeteria will be able to buy a variety of coffees, cold drinks, rolls, cakes and other snacks from a kiosk in the foyer diagonally opposite the main entrance. And anyone who still feels a thirst for coffee after 6 p.m. will be able to help themselves from vending machines.
The foyer is "an ingenious location for the new cafeteria to stay close to the customers," says Senf. Something beautiful will be integrated into the existing architecture from the 1980s. "Everyone is looking forward to the changes," adds the university caterer. Bar tables and high chairs will be set up to the right of the entrance; a lounge with cosy furniture will be created on the gallery behind, where coffee lovers can retreat. There will be barrier-free seating to the left of the entrance. In general, the entire facility will be modernised and made more attractive, "so that people will linger here," says Carsten Steinbrenner, Head of Construction Planning at the university.
But until then, the construction workers still have a lot to do. The holes and shafts, for example - they are to provide space for two new ventilation systems that will supply the canteen and cafeteria with fresh air in future. The old systems date back to 1984, when the building was constructed, and therefore need to be replaced, explains Meik Möllers, Head of the Division for Building Management at the university.
The toilets next to the canteen will also be renovated; the side entrance opposite will be fitted with a motorised revolving door to make it accessible for the disabled. Otherwise, everything downstairs in the canteen will remain the same for the time being. But Möllers and Steinbrenner are already preparing a second construction phase. Although the financing has not yet been secured, a physics laboratory has already found new rooms so that the neighbouring kitchen can be expanded. Because it's not just in front of the counter that cafeteria visitors are crowding - it has also become far too cramped in the kitchen, says Möllers.
