Student house with no students

Improvements to the Studenterhuset have left a spacious café cold and empty. Manager confirms that visitor numbers have dropped, and calls on students to help redecorate in order to reverse the trend

by Patricia Trincado

The rebuilding of the once-popular student café Studenterhuset last semester has resulted in fewer rather than more visitors. This is confirmed by Studenterhuset staff to the University Post, who now call on student volunteers to redecorate.

It has been a long time since the Studenterhuset café has been so popular that it figuratively (and literally) spilled out on to the streets as reported, for example, in the University Post’s 2009 photo gallery from a successful night out there.

The new Studenterhuset re-opened at the end of October 2010 after a major overhaul. But the crowds have stayed away. An increase in the entrance fee from DKK 10 to DKK 30 has not helped.

Needs to be more student-friendly

The drop in visitors is confirmed by Studenterhuset staff to the University Post, who point to the interior décor. Customers seem to get frightened away from the café due to its poor decoration. Even though the café is now more spacious and organised, it also seems to lack cosiness.

More people will come if we achieve a cosier and more student-friendly place, thinks Hassel Löfstedt, the director of the Studenterhuset.

»We like the rebuilding of the café, but we want students to decorate it, so they can feel like a part of it«, she says.

Needs to be centre of different activities

Studenterhuset calls on students to determine how it should look inside: It imagines a more customer friendly place with a better atmosphere thanks to proper illumination, decoration on the walls and other improvements.

The goal is a stylish, multifunctional room for different activities such as debates, films, poetry, presentations, dance, art, and, overall, live music, Hassel Löfstedt says.

One requirement is that the new design must be made from recycled materials.

Looking for creative students

The redesign of the café will be carried out from 11 July to 1 August and is offered as an opportunity of displaying students' creative talent.

Students from different fields are welcome to volunteer in the project: Film, theatre, dance, art, design, architecture, etc. Creativity is at the heart of the project, the Studenterhuset says.

The reward? Studenterhuset offers participants free membership for three years and free admission to all the events for one year. Free food and drinks will be provided during working hours. Interested in the project? See details in fact box to the right.

Uni-avis@adm.ku.dk

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