In a tendering process (VgV-Verfahren), HENN has won the contract for the new campus of the Berlin Fire Department and Rescue Services Academy.
The former Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) site will be used for training and continuing professional development of firefighters, rescue and emergency medical staff. Besides renovating two listed hangars and other existing buildings, a new academy building and outdoor training facilities will be constructed.
HENN designed a new academy building based on an urban development concept conceived by kleyer.koblitz.letzel.freivogel and KUULA in a tendering process (VgV-Verfahren). The new build functions as the institution’s communicating center to bring together instructors and trainees.
Its height and the restrained, deliberately “technical” appearance of the façade allow the new build to blend harmoniously into its surroundings and to mediate between old and new. At the heart of the new build is a centrally located, light-filled atrium that interlinks all stories, establishes sightlines and promotes synergies within the building.
It serves as a place to meet for knowledge sharing and informal encounters. The spacious lobby provides trainees and instructors with access to a canteen with an outdoor terrace, a dining hall, and a café. The integrated auditorium can also be used for larger events.
The upper stories accommodate offices and training rooms whose clearly structured layout allows for flexible uses. The academy building’s proposed hybrid-timber structure remains visible inside; it is further emphasized by a fire-engine red staircase in the atrium.
The new build is designed as a low-tech structure whose simple, long-lasting components reduce the need for building services while increasing resource efficiency.
Photovoltaic panels will be installed on the east and west façades and on the rooftop to generate electricity. Besides the academy building, new structures will be built to accommodate sports and training facilities as well as vehicle depots.
In addition, HENN will renovate the listed buildings located on-site, including two hangars dating back to the 1960s and 1970s whose impressively large, clear-span halls provide space for replicating operational scenarios that can be used regardless of weather conditions.
The new Berlin Fire Department and Rescue Services Academy campus will support a state-of-the-art, efficient Berlin firefighting service while strengthening its crucial role within the city.
As part of transforming the derelict airport site into a place of innovation referred to as the Urban Tech Republic, a venue with a distinct sense of identity will be created to give the firefighting and rescue services a new public presence in the city.
Other current HENN projects for educational use are the Institute of Ferrous Metallurgy RWTH Aachen, the Zhongfa Aviation Institute in Hangzhou, China, as well as the two university projects Westlake University, also in Hangzhou, and the Dongguan campus of the Hong Kong City University. Source by HENN.
- Location: Berlin, Germany
- Architect: HENN
- Client: Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen User Berliner Feuerwehr- und Rettungsakademie (BFRA)
- Program: Offices, training rooms, auditorium, event hall, gastronomy, fitness area, training areas (indoors and outdoors), vehicle depots, fire training facilities
- Urban development concept: kleyer.koblitz.letzel.freivogel gesellschaft von architekten mbH mit KUULA Landschaftsarchitekten
- Gross floor area: 50,700 m2 (total), 15,000 m2 (academy building)
- Completion: 2028 (planned)
- Images: Courtesy of HENN
