“We want to make the campus more communicative”
So, how’s the coffee?
It's excellent. They also have a suitable coffee machine. Opening a café and not having good coffee — that would be pointless.
Why is a new café important?
We want to make the campus more communicative. For that, we need a central gathering place. We want it to be a place where people feel comfortable, where they can linger and maybe work on their laptops. Where they can run into one another, exchange ideas and generate new ones. A place where someone might encounter something that interests them and decide, “I’ll check that out!” That's what it’s about.
None of that has really existed up to now. We have these beautiful buildings scattered across the campus, but everyone has their own coffee machine. It would already be a success if people now said, "Let's meet at the café!" It would be even better if everyone said: This place belongs to us, and we want to be a part of shaping it.
Of course, there are also basic needs to meet. Where can you reliably get something to eat or drink on the Berlin-Buch campus after 2 p.m.? We’re not in the middle of the city here where you can just pop around the corner and grab something.
What are your first impressions?
It still has a bit of a pop-up character. It’s not perfectly planned down to the last detail. But actually, it’s exciting to me that not everything is perfect. There are a few older sofas that we already had, those wooden benches familiar to us from the meadow, as well as some tables that a restaurateur probably wouldn’t choose because they might wobble a bit. Café workspaces were added at the last minute — all that’s missing is the power connection.
A few things were important — we had to separate the café a bit from the large conference center. The ceiling needed to be lowered. We needed focal points and niches. We achieved this using plants, umbrellas and lights. The MDC.C is actually in an ideal location — central and accessible to everyone on campus. It’s bright and connects seamlessly with to the outside.
On the way to the opening, we spoke with various interest groups and users of the MDC.C, and we had to find ways to navigate planning rules and regulations. That can be frustrating when you are wanting to implement something within a short time span. Tenders, for example, can take months.
What happened next?
At some point, we asked ourselves, what do we want to achieve? We need something now — not in three years, when we may have found a perfect solution! That's how this pop-up was born. It’s a version that can grow. The yellow furniture can later be moved outside, as can the umbrellas. If we want different furnishings in the long term, none of this is wasted.
And what’s ideal for one person may not be for someone else. That’s difficult to plan for. It will be important for people to participate, to voice their opinions and to appreciate what has been created here. It’s the spirit of, “the main thing is to get started and to keep communicating.” That’s how you achieve something.
One aspect of our new MDC2030 strategy is also titled “goal- and solution-oriented mindset.” That’s exactly what came into play here, and I think it’s great. Now we’ve planted something here. Now we need to let it grow and develop. But we also need to keep it alive and actively support it. We need to water it, so to speak.
How can that be achieved?
One key is regular events. We want to use the space for planned scientific discussions, perhaps hold a Science Slam, or restart the Chalk Talk series, and make these things open for everyone to see. Programs that strengthen the connection between science and administration and on the campus as a whole. Essentially, we want to foster a new culture. I’m convinced it can succeed, but it will take patience.
Three wishes for the café?
I hope that it’s successful and brings new life to the campus. That it becomes a seed for positive thinking and for a willingness to change. And I hope that the conversations that happen here will generate ideas for exciting new science.
Questions by Jana Schlütter.
