Allgemeines Verfügungszentrum (AVZ)

 A "monstrosity of glass and rusty steel" (Heinz-Wilhelm Trapp), once the focal point of the university on the Westerberg, is now a "lost place": In the 1970s, the AVZ (General Disposition Center) was the only new building explicitly planned for the university. The AVZ was planned as a "multi-purpose provisional structure" and it was possible to occupy the building in April 1974 after only one year of construction, which fittingly coincided with the university's opening. Without the AVZ, it would have been virtually impossible to operate anything approaching a structured university teaching and research program in the early years.

 In later decades and until its closure due to fire safety concerns, the building remained an important factor for teaching and research, as well as for the operation of supporting facilities such as the data center, a cafeteria, and the natural and social sciences departmental libraries.