Wuppertal University was founded in the 1970s, and at the same time, cheap accommodation was to be quickly made available to the students. Thus, the student residence hall “Burse” was built, one of the largest halls of residence in Germany, accommodating approximately 600 students. The building had passed its prime, and was in need of substantial refurbishment. As well as completely out-of-date building services equipment, and insufficient thermal insulation of the facade, the residence hall also had structural faults.

Each shared kitchen and washroom was conceived for up to 32 people. The residence hall’s unattractiveness led to vacancies, and considerable social problems. This meant that it was no longer possible to run the building profitably. After a comprehensive appraisal, various scenarios were examined, right through to total demolition and new construction. The investment and operating costs were significant factors. Merely correcting the structural faults would not have increased the attractiveness of the hall of residence on the long term. For this reason, a solution was sought, which would significantly improve the long-term rentability of the hall of residence.

Alongside the modernisation of the building, it was decided that an energy-oriented refurbishment would also be carried out. The project was subdivided into two construction stages. The section completed in 2001 was to comply with the low-energy house standard. In the 2nd complex, finished in 2003, the thermal insulation was further improved, and ventilation (with air intake and air extraction, as well as heat recovery) was installed, so that this section of the "Neue Burse" was realised in keeping with the passive house concept. The construction costs of the entire refurbishment project were 25% lower than those of a new building. 

After the second building was finished and completely reoccupied in 2003, a three-year scientific examination of the installed building services equipment and an energy consumption analysis began in May 2004. The project is part of the support initiative "Energy-Optimised Construction (EnOB)", which is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi). One focal area deals with "Energy-Oriented Improvement of the Building Fabric (EnSan)".