Overview
- The joint TU Berlin and UdK university library was closed from Friday and will remain shut until at least June 12 while a defective cylinder head gasket in the building's Netzersatzanlage (backup generator) is repaired.
- The backup generator supplies power to life‑safety systems in an emergency, which is why the university says the closure was necessary for safety and cannot be sensibly avoided.
- TU President Fatma Deniz has convened a crisis team, ordered immediate repairs to the generator and moved to restore full operational safety in the library building.
- The closure follows an earlier shutdown of the TU Hauptgebäude on May 9 for serious construction and fire‑safety defects, a disruption that forced about 350 weekly teaching events to be moved or held online and left no reopening planned for the summer term.
- A new Planungs‑Taskforce Brandschutz made up of TU officials, district authorities and Senate experts will inspect all campus buildings and draw up a multi‑year masterplan to address an estimated €2.4 billion of repair needs, a process likely to prolong disruptions to teaching, research and student access to facilities.