Following 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 site will be used for the training and continuing professional development of firefighters, rescue and emergency medical staff. In addition to renovating hangars and other existing buildings, a new academy building and outdoor training facilities will be constructed.
Henn has designed a new academy building based on an urban development concept conceived by kleyer.koblitz.letzel.freivogel and KUULA. The new build functions as the institution’s communicating centre 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, Henn said. 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.
New structures will also 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.
