When Winklerstraße was redesigned in the 1950s and the halls of residence and the large lecture theatre were built, a small park was planned for the space next to Winklerstraße 12 hall of residence. Whether it was ever built can no longer be determined today. What is certain is that in the 1970s, a so-called assistants' hall of residence was built on this site. Due to the housing shortage at the time, the Bergakademie had built such a dormitory, which consisted almost exclusively of one-room flats. Young employees of the Bergakademie could move in here and stay until they had started a family or were allocated another flat.
This hall of residence was demolished in 2008. The question now was what the site should be used for. The property was used by the TU Bergakademie Freiberg and is owned by the Free State of Saxony.
At the same time, the Freiberg student union was planning to extend its existing daycare centre. However, it soon became clear that the extension would be far too small and far too expensive. At the time, there were around 50 children on the waiting list for our daycare centre. In discussions with the university and the city of Freiberg regarding the location of a new daycare centre, the area between Winklerstrasse and Möllerstrasse crystallised. The Sächsische Immobilien- und Baumanagement (Saxon Real Estate and Construction Management), as the administrator of the land owned by the Free State of Saxony, did the rest to transfer the area to the Freiberg Student Union under heritable building rights and construction could begin on 1 June 2010, Children's Day.
Everyone also helped and continues to help with the financing of the construction, which is estimated to cost just under €2 million. The largest chunk, totalling €1.2 million, was provided by the city of Freiberg, which will later also cover the majority of the operating costs.
Student union gives itself a present
The day care centre on Winklerstraße was opened on 1 July 2011 - to coincide with the 20th birthday of the student union.
By Steffen Jankowski and Oliver Hach - Freie Presse Freiberg from 02.07.2011:
Freiberg - There were several toasts yesterday at the Freiberg Student Union. The youngest children kicked things off - albeit with champagne - at the inauguration of their new day care centre on Winklerstraße. Afterwards, the Studentenwerk, which runs the day care centre as an independent provider, also celebrated its 20th anniversary.
"Beautiful" - and with conviction and length - was Kaja's verdict on the new building yesterday. The three-year-old was the first child to enter the new centre in the morning. She immediately felt at home and had a go at painting. Her mum Dörte Plate was also full of praise. "The building is very bright and spacious," said the doctor.
We currently have three kindergarten children and five crèche children," reported Kathrin Stebel. A total of 18 girls and boys are registered for this month, the head of the new daycare centre continues: "From September, all 60 places will be filled."
The roof of the multi-purpose room is a striking feature of the colourful low-rise building at the junction of Möllerstraße. The unconventional design ensures good acoustics. This was helpful for the programme of the Hornmühlenweg beetle group yesterday. Its usefulness in everyday play remains to be seen[...].
Yesterday, the children from the Beetle Group were just as happy about the new daycare centre of the Studentenwerk on Winklerstraße as its director Kathrin Stebel and Thomas Schmalz from the Studentenwerk Freiberg.
