Dressed in yellow vests, with safety helmets securely in place and armed with fully charged mobile phones, AU’s student life ambassadors were ready to embark on a so-called Instawalk in the University City on a cold afternoon in January. The destination of the walk was the old Municipal Hospital, which is in the process of being transformed into AU’s new campus.

2020.02.04 | Signe Opstrup

Here you can read about the student life ambassadors’ experiences when AU and FEAS (the developer of the University City) let them see what goes on behind locked doors and closed-off areas and take pictures of the University City in the making.

In yellow vests and safety helmets 

Walking closely together, the student life ambassadors emerge from the tunnel that connects the University Park with the University City. At first glance, the University City appears empty. The cars and the many people who previously made the area full of life are no longer here.

But only couple of seconds later, noises from the construction site can be heard in the distance, and, looking a little closer, it becomes clear that several places are bustling with life. This is especially the case in the old central kitchen. This building is very close to being ready to welcome students and researchers from AU’s new entrepreneurship hub, The Kitchen. 

Through underground passageways 

 

The student life ambassadors descend below ground, far away from the construction noise and down into the old hospital passageways that run under the entire area. The passageways were frequently used when the area was occupied by the hospital – now they are completely silent.

From the old underground passageways, the student life ambassadors move on to the old patient hotel, which, with its small balconies, resemble the residence halls in the University Park. In 2020-2021, the patient hotel will be transformed into 137 cosy apartments with room for about 180 residents and with a very central location.  

On top of it all 

    

From the former patient hotel, you have a view of the construction site by the northern building in the University City. Here, the workers are busy transforming the old hospital building into interesting and welcoming classrooms, places to hang out and lecture halls for the students and employees at the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, who will move into the building in 2022.

The Instawalk concludes with photos of the beautiful views from the top floors. Even though the weather could have been better, the view from the red University City of the yellow (and green) University Park is pretty special.

 

See more photos from the Instawalk

Below, you can see some of the photos that AU’s student life ambassadors took on their Instawalk through the University City (#Universitetsbyen #Yourniversity).

    

    

Take a virtual tour of the University City

Want to see how the University City will end up looking? Then take a sneak peak by downloading the app ‘Universitetsbyen’. The app will take you on a tour of the future University City using augmented reality. 

• Read more and download the app here.

Facts

• An Instawalk is an excursion where people explore with their mobile phone cameras and afterwards post the photos on Instagram.

• The student life ambassadors are a small group of students helping AU share student life as they experience it, and promote the good sides of student life on social media platforms. The photos from the tour of the University City got posted on Instagram with the hashtags #Universitetsbyen and #Yourniversity. 

 

Further information

• Read more about AU’s new entrepreneurship hub, The Kitchen, which opens on 5 February.
• If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact Charlotte Lyngholm, programme director for Campus 2.0 at cl@au.dk.