Building for the medical care of the future

Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine

Directly adjacent to ‘Bettenhaus’ Ward Building Charité Mitte, a combined outpatient clinic, translation and innovation center of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH@Charité) and Charité is currently being built at Campus Charité Mitte: the Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine. Charité's former building for surgery, intensive care medicine and emergency department is being reinvented for this purpose by means of structural refurbishment. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory space, offices and technology platforms for international research groups, areas for biomedical technology transfer and a center for patients in the Clinical Research Unit with examination and treatment rooms for clinical studies. Outpatient areas, a day clinic for cancer patients and the Department of Dermatology will also be installed. In the future, BIH@Charité’s innovative, patient-oriented and translational research will be combined with Charité’s medical care under one roof.  It will promote interaction between patients, doctors and researchers and will combine research units currently distributed geographically across Berlin. In the foyer of the Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine, a BIH@Charité world of experience on the topics of translation and precision medicine is being created under the motto “Health comes from research”.

The Simulated Human (Si‑M)

Scientists from Charité and TU Berlin work together in the research center “Der Simulierte Mensch” ("The Simulated Human" Si-M) to model human cell and organ functions. The new buildings are designed in such a way that they optimally support the research work and integrate scientific and architectural components into the design. A shared basement is located between the research buildings (Si-M) and BeCAT, through which the media technology is developed.

On the ground floor of the building, the public “Theatron” is a platform for creative exchange between scientists. Presentations and discussions with external scientists are also planned. As a particularly climate-friendly component of campus renewal, the (Si-M) is to receive silver certification from the Federal Ministry of Building’s Sustainable Building Assessment System (BNB).

The Federal Government and the State of Berlin are promoting its creation with the programme for excellent research buildings at universities.

Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT)

A new building for the Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) will be built at Campus Virchow-Klinikum by 2023. The state-of-the-art research building will become part of the new science campus for biotechnology and medical technology. The specialists at BeCAT are researching new medicines and innovative therapeutic approaches, such as regenerative medicine. This forward-looking biomedical approach addresses the healing of diseases by restoring impaired cells, tissues and organs. On the one hand, cultivated tissues can be used for this, and on the other hand, researchers want to find out how they can stimulate the body’s own regeneration and repair processes.

The new building for the BeCAT is part of an urban development ensemble developed by means of a competitive process. The Federal Government and the State of Berlin are promoting its creation with the programme for excellent research buildings at universities.

Käthe Beutler Building

Charité opened a new research building at Campus Berlin Buch in the form of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH@Charité) and the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). Where two 1970s buildings were previously located, the new building, situated just on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg and named after the German paediatrician Käthe Beutler, was completed in 2021. Käthe Beutler Building, with its 2,500 square metres of floor space accommodating laboratories, offices and communication zones, offers space for around 135 researchers. Here they will develop new personalised therapies for chronic diseases and work translationally.

Refurbishment of ‘Bettenhaus’ Ward Building Charité Mitte and construction of new operating room, intensive care station and emergency station

The 21-storey ‘Bettenhaus’ Ward Building Charité Mitte has been regarded as a landmark of Charité since 1982 and, thanks to its size, is a highly visible urban centerpiece. Since completion of its structural refurbishment in 2016, ‘Bettenhaus’ Ward Building Charité Mitte has received an energy-efficient facade and, with its 520 beds, is one of the most modern hospital buildings in Europe. A new, two-story glass and steel bridge across Luisenstraße connects the high-rise ward to the historic campus.

Between 2014 and 2016, a new building for the OR, intensive care unit and the central emergency department was built in the immediate vicinity. Charité Emergency Medicine Center – Rudolf Nissen Haus is equipped with 15 state-of-the-art operating rooms, 70 intensive care beds and an emergency department for the future-oriented care of patients.

Diagnostic Center

As a new high-tech facility, the CCM diagnostic centre (Campus Charité Mitte) will be a force for Healthcare City Berlin 2030. The milestone of the “Charité 2030” "Rethinking Health" strategy initiates the structural development of the CCM. The transformation into the future will fully unfold through this high-performance centre and the bundling of high-tech diagnostics there with highly efficient processes within healthcare. The proximity to the Rahel Hirsch Center for Translational Medicine, outpatient areas and emergency and intensive care medicine will network medical treatment optimally at the CCM.

Ideas competition for north entrance and new research building

Charité intends to develop a suitable access to Campus Charité Mitte in a prominent location on Invalidenstraße in conjunction with a research building.

To this end, a restricted ideas competition “Campus Charité Mitte – North Entrance and New Research Building” was presented to architects in 2020. Urban planning, architectural and functionally convincing concepts were sought within the framework of the ideas competition for the development of the plot of land on Invalidenstraße. This is intended to open the campus to the street, which was previously closed to Invalidenstraße, guarantee a better connection to public transport and at the same time create a visible Charité address on Invalidenstraße.

The research building to be developed required 1,400-1,700 m² of space. The aim of the ideas competition was to define the general urban conditions for the future development of the property and a site-compatible construction volume, which forms the basis for demand planning.