One of the world's most prestigious scientific and technological research institutions, Max Planck Society, is redeveloping its Munich campus to meet modern research standards and address emerging scientific questions in a collaborative, innovative and human-centred new environment. The goal is to build a new 40,000m2 flagship research campus in a development supported by the State of Bavaria.

Arup came on board to help Max Planck Society activate its campus renewal and manage the upcoming construction planning phases.

Our team of specialists in change management, architecture, engineering, foresight, and logistics has analysed the functional dependencies of different units and the technical requirements of the current campus to guide the operational planning concept of the new development. Through extensive stakeholder engagement, we surveyed members' needs and aspirations to help the organisation ensure employees can adapt smoothly to the new environment.

Stakeholder engagement

People are key for any change process. Organisations need to engage with their employees to define and implement any changes effectively. This means identifying their needs and requirements, and ensuring the new working environment will respond to these.

Arup’s experts carried out an extensive stakeholder engagement process to understand users’ experience and necessities. Our team surveyed over 110 participants on site and conducted 60 interviews and extensive face to face workshops with employees at all levels. Arup's specialists used Maxqda digital tool to carry out the site surveying and interviews, and to identify workflow patterns, common problems and aspirations.

The data gathered through our comprehensive stakeholder engagement activities informed the conceptual and functional scheme for the new campus, helping to define the scope for the first construction phase and to ensure that employees can adapt to future changes successfully.

Arup’s team helped us to define our development plan and gather valuable input from our employees to manage the upcoming changes to the campus and our institutes. Your expertise is not just a service, but a partnership in progress.

Christoph Nagel-Hirschauer

Architecture Team Leader, Max Planck Society

Operational planning

The Martinsried campus of Max Planck Society is a leading research hub at the centre of Munich's biotech region, home to the Institute of Biochemistry and the Institute of Biological Intelligence. The campus houses several offices and labs as well as recreational and conference areas, guest apartments, daycare centres and specialised research services. Hoping to serve as a leading asset for international life science research, the new campus will rise on the free plot next to the existing institutes.

Arup’s experts created a vision and a holistic operational concept focused on people, carbon footprint reduction, modularity, and cross-department collaboration to help Max Planck Society initiate the design competition for the new campus.

Arup's operational planning concept seeks to meaningfully integrate the new campus within the existing ecosystem and create a space for collaboration and innovation. Our team carried out a functional and technical analysis to understand how the various research and administrative units currently interact to inform the organisation of the new campus.

Arup's specialists created a list of priorities for the different units to help Max Planck Society choose which buildings to erect first. Our approach breaks down the development into phases to minimise the impact of construction on ongoing science activities.

In addition to the overall operational strategy, we developed a concept design for a new lab and science unit with parameters for adaptable and modular building design.

Global reach boosts operational change planning​

Arup’s specialists in UK and Germany have jointly worked on this complex project, leveraging knowledge of local context and applying international experience in change management, stakeholder engagement, and operational planning. Arup’s global presence means we can efficiently pool resources and talent from across continents and tailor solutions to specific client needs.