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Alongside research buildings and other structures on the campus of the University of Technology, Munich, in Garching, this black lecture-hall complex has a pleasingly restrained appearance. The large intake of students in 2010 – the outcome of a double school-leaving year – necessitated these additional facilities, which were conceived to last for six years. Despite the low budget and the short construction period, an elegant cubic structure was created that is enlivened by the play of light and shade on its wave-like facade. The complex contains two lecture halls with 479 and 288 seats respectively. These are separated by a narrow corridor, the gleaming black walls and the lighting of which create a striking mirrored effect. The corridor provides access to the halls on the ground floor, while two staircases symmetrically flanking the foyer lead to the upper rows of seating, from where a strip of fenestration affords a view out over the campus. The provisional nature of the building is indicated by the untreated sheets of oriented-strand board on the walls of the lecture halls, the wood fibreboard slabs to the ceilings and the laminated timber beams that have been left exposed. Contrasted with this are the fine, black furnishings and seating with eye-catching numbering. The spaces between the members of the load-bearing timber skeleton frame – based on a 2.5-metre grid – are filled with wood-framed elements. In the foyer and corridor and beneath the lecture halls, the necessary fire protection is provided by gypsum fibeboard. From both halls, escape doors lead directly to the outdoor realm.