22 July 2025

Photo: CF Møller Architects

The selected design for the HAFUN building

What forces determine the behavior of elementary particles? And how have they significantly shaped the development of the universe? On the campus of Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld (SCHB), the upcoming Hamburg Fundamental Interactions Laboratory (HAFUN) is a research facility unique in Germany that will address these major questions in physics—and play a decisive role in answering them.

The building provides state-of-the-art conditions for this purpose—with specialized infrastructure, high-tech laboratories, and large-scale equipment that enable innovative experiments. It offers space for around 200 scientists from the field of experimental physics—specifically from the areas of particle and astroparticle physics as well as nonlinear quantum optics—who are significantly involved in the University of Hamburg's (UHH) Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe, which has just been approved for another funding period. With today's decision to construct the building under a tenant-landlord model and the subsequent approval of the 2025/26 budget, the Senate is initiating the next steps for the construction of this flagship project and securing federal co-financing of over 34 million euros.

Hamburg Senator for Science Maryam Blumenthal: “This unique research building strengthens Hamburg's role as a leading location for basic research, supports the excellent research of our ‘Quantum Universe’ cluster, and attracts outstanding scientists from all over the world. HAFUN stands for forward-looking research into the big questions of our time and, at the same time, for technological innovation with a social impact—it is precisely this combination that makes Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld one of the most exciting science and innovation districts in Europe. HAFUN exploits the synergies with the existing facilities there and offers a state-of-the-art infrastructure for joint research and work. I am delighted that we are now taking the next steps and continuing to work on the future.”

Finance Senator Andreas Dressel: “Excellent science requires excellent university buildings. HAFUN will be an outstanding university construction project, which will be built by our municipal development agency Sprinkenhof. In order to optimize federal funding for this ambitious project, we will examine the extent to which we can contribute funds from the special infrastructure fund in order to better manage the ongoing budgetary burden for Hamburg once the project is completed. In addition, we have reached important agreements between the science and finance authorities: we have big plans for university construction in the coming years and decades! In order to be able to ramp up university construction even more efficiently and cost-effectively, it is also essential to focus even more on system and modular construction for other science buildings in addition to outstanding stand-alone buildings such as HAFUN."

Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren, President of the University of Hamburg: “With HAFUN, we are creating a new venue for internationally visible cutting-edge research at the University of Excellence in Hamburg. The laboratory brings together scientists from the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe, the Department of Physics, and our partners in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld to explore the central mysteries of the universe. In doing so, we are strengthening Hamburg's innovative power and promoting close networking between science, society, and industry.”

Background information on HAFUN

In the future, scientists from the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe at the University of Hamburg will work and conduct research in HAFUN, which will have approximately 6,400 square meters of floor space. The new research building is being constructed in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld, in the immediate vicinity of the existing physics buildings of the University of Hamburg, DESY, and other research institutions. This will enable close networking among the scientists on site, allowing them to make the best possible use of the synergies between their own and neighboring fields of research. The goal of the Cluster of Excellence Quantum Universe is to investigate the connections between mass and gravity at the interface of particle physics and cosmology in order to answer unresolved questions in cosmology, such as the origin of dark matter. In addition to theoretical work, novel experiments are essential for this purpose. The HAFUN building itself will serve as a measuring instrument for gravitational wave research and cosmic radiation, thus offering a unique research infrastructure.