Shaping the future (archive)
Käthe Beutler Building
Charité opened the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH@Charité) and the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in a new research building at Campus Berlin Buch named after the German paediatrician Käthe Beutler. The new building, completed in 2021, was built on a site located right on the border between Berlin and Brandenburg where two 1970s-era buildings once stood. With its 2,500 square metres of floor space accommodating laboratories, offices and communication zones, the Käthe Beutler Building offers space for around 135 researchers using a translational approach to develop new, personalised therapies for chronic diseases.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about the Käthe Beutler Building
- Usable area
- 3,030 m²
- Cost
- 29.1 million euros
- Completion
- 2021
- Location
- Campus Berlin Buch
Berlin Museum of Medical History at the Charité
The renovation and expansion of all seven floors has ensured that the Berlin Museum of Medical History at Campus Charité Mitte is well positioned for the future. The museum, which originally opened in 1899, now has a new, generously sized foyer with a multi-purpose educational space and a ‘visible lab’. Glass display cases integrated into the facade open up the area between the building and the large forecourt. Space for new exhibits in the collection and sections for temporary exhibitions were also added, as were additional storage facilities for teaching, research and project development. The museum reopened its doors in 2023.Show location on the campus map
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about Berlin Museum of Medical History
- Usable area
- 3,150 m²
- Cost
- 12.5 million euros
- Completion
- 2023
- Location
- Campus Charité Mitte
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
The Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy building was constructed around 110 years ago, and had not been renovated for a long time. A fundamental architectural renovation was well overdue, as were new fire safety systems and upgrades to technical services. The entire building was refurbished and modernised in three construction phases while the clinic remained in operation. The main objective was for patients to be treated in a modern setting that helps to promote healing.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
- Usable area
- 4,660 m²
- Cost
- 25 million euros
- Completion
- 2023
- Location
- Campus Charité Mitte
Special-purpose heliport
Changes to air traffic regulations required the existing helipad at Campus Benjamin Franklin to be moved further to the south. The landing area was extended out over Paul-Schwarz-Promenade and along the banks of Teltow Canal. This ensured that helicopters can now take off and land in line with mandatory flight traffic procedures, thereby helping to improve flight safety. The additional parking sites are intended for helicopters transporting medicines or similar cargo to the clinic in Berlin’s southern Steglitz district from all over Germany. The medevac helicopters belonging to the charitable organisation ADAC Luftrettung, manned by paramedics and emergency physicians from Charité, are used daily for emergency response flights. For example, the helicopter Christoph 31 has flown more than 3,500 missions annually in recent years. The new raised platform is 63.70 metres long. A roof was installed over the pedestrian path along Teltow Canal. Additional communal and rest areas for the helicopter crews and hangar personnel were also constructed. The medevac helicopters that had been transferred to Schönefeld Airport for the duration of construction returned to the site in spring 2020.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about the heliport
- Length of the platform
- 63.70 m
- Cost
- 5 million euros
- Completion
- 2020
- Location
- Campus Benjamin Franklin
Research building Hessische Strasse
Extensive renovations to the research building in Hessische Strasse at Campus Charité Mitte were completed in the summer of 2020. This listed building dating from the 1950s now offers the Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH@Charité) more than 2,000 square metres of usable space. Research work is primarily conducted there by Charité and BIH@Charité working groups from the departments of nephrology, endocrinology and cardiology. One special challenge encountered during renovation work was protecting the building’s heritage status while meeting the high technical standards required for the laboratory, such as the new central ventilation unit installed in the roof. The former library was repurposed as a media and seminar room that will promote exchange between researchers and teaching staff in conjunction with the neighbouring Lecture Theatre 35 (formerly Albrecht Kossel Lecture Theatre).
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Facts about the research building in Hessische Strasse
- Usable area
- 2,400 m²
- Cost
- 13.75 million euros
- Completion
- 2020
- Location
- Campus Charité Mitte
Charité Campus Clinic South (CCK Süd)
The renovation of the inpatient wards (SPS I – III) represents the first major renovation of patient accommodation since the university hospital was opened in 1968. The first four wards were extensively refurbished from 2020 onwards with the aim of offering patients modern levels of comfort, and renovation of a further four wards commenced in 2024. Patients are now generally accommodated in rooms with one or two beds, featuring modern multimedia devices and integrated bathrooms. Furthermore, the ward’s entire technical infrastructure was renewed and made ready for medical digitalisation to be implemented. The wards were renovated as part of a construction project run by the State of Berlin. While the renovations were ongoing the wards were decanted into the temporary Charité Campus Clinic South.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about Charité Campus Clinic South
- Area
- 2,700 m²
- Cost
- 16.3 million euros
- Completion
- 2020
- Location
- Campus Benjamin Franklin
Renovating the operating theatres
(1st + 2nd construction phase)
The operating theatres at Campus Benjamin Franklin, whose original floorplans and building technology dated back to the 1960s, were completely refurbished in two construction phases. The gradual refurbishment of the surgical floor in the existing listed building ensured that the medical care of tomorrow can be provided at CBF today. The operating theatres were designed to be efficient and flexible, thereby allowing more operations to be performed. The newly equipped hybrid operating theatres also ensure doctors can perform innovative operation procedures. Refurbishment of three of the four surgical areas (known as ‘quadrants’) took place in stages while the hospital remained running.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about renovating the surgical facilities (1st + 2nd construction phase)
- Area
- 2,500 m²
- Cost
- 35 million euros
- Completion
- 2018
- Location
- Campus Benjamin Franklin
Renovating Charité Bettenhaus Mitte and newbuild for operating theatres, intensive care medicine and centralised emergency department
The 21-storey Charité Bettenhaus Mitte has been regarded as a landmark of the hospital since it opened in 1982, and its size ensures that it dominates the urban skyline. After structural renovations were completed in 2016 the building received an energy-efficient facade. With its 520 beds, the Bettenhaus is one of the most modern hospital buildings in Europe. A new two-storey glass and steel bridge across Luisenstrasse connects this high-rise ward building with the historical campus. Between 2014 and 2016, a new building for surgical facilities, intensive care medicine and the central emergency department was built adjacent to the Bettenhaus. Charité Notfallzentrum Mitte – Rudolf Nissen Haus is equipped with 15 ultra-modern operating theatres, 70 intensive care beds and a pioneering emergency department, all ensuring that patients receive state-of-the-art healthcare.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about the bettenhaus high-rise ward building
- Usable area
- 34,000 m²
- Costs
- 202.5 million euros
- Completion
- 2016
- Localisation
- Campus Charité Mitte
Biobank
High-tech timber construction – Central biobank structures containing valuable biological samples and their associated medical information are vital for modern biomedical research because they ensure dependable and reproducible research findings. Storage technology is trending towards automation cryogenic storage, but ‘classical’ storage techniques such as nitrogen tanks and minus-80-degree refrigerated storage are still commonly used. Charité has collaborated with Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH@Charité) to create a joint biobank with a capacity of more than two million samples at Campus Virchow-Klinikum. Construction time, cost and sustainability were all key criteria in making the innovative decision to build this high-tech laboratory building from timber. In this two-storey facility, biological samples are harvested with patients’ permission before being secured, processed and stored in accordance with the most stringent data protection policies. The samples and data contribute towards translational research projects on the causes of disease and promote the development of innovative targeted therapies.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about Biobank
- Usable area
- 890 m²
- Cost
- 4 million euros
- Completion
- 2016
- Location
- Campus Virchow-Klinikum
CharitéCrossOver research building
A beacon for research – A new teaching and research building for the medical faculty called CharitéCrossOver (CCO) was constructed on a site that is rich in tradition and located between the historical paediatric clinic and the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology. The innovative building brings together a number of elements under one roof: the faculty’s key basic subjects, the NeuroCore cluster of excellence and the teaching programme, in particular the natural science courses for medical students. CharitéCrossOver was the first project realised within the framework of the Charité’s master plan, which makes the CCO one of the first visible building blocks in the CCM campus renewal strategy.
Show location on the campus map Show location on the campus mapFacts about CCO
- Area
- 12,000 m²
- Costs
- 86.2 million euros
- Completion
- 2012
- Location
- Campus Charité Mitte