Archello Awards · Winners Announced
Archello Awards 2024 · Winners Announced
Archello Awards 2024
Winners Announced

Berlin Fire Department and Rescue Services Academy

HENN as Architects

The new Berlin Fire Department and Rescue Services Academy campus will be built on the former Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) site, where the last plane took off in 2020. It will provide about 50,000 square meters for training and continuing professional development of firefighters, rescue and emergency medical staff. Two listed hangars and other existing buildings will be renovated, and new buildings and outdoor training facilities will be added.

photo_credit HENN
HENN

In a growing capital city and amid continuously evolving technologies, the Berlin fire department requires a future-proof location providing sufficient space for state-of-the-art theoretical and practical training. This is exactly what the new campus situated on the city’s northern outskirts will offer.

In a tendering process (VgV-Verfahren), HENN 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 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. Its two-story entrance zone replicates the ascending topography to connect different levels and several outdoor areas, including the campus square and a canteen terrace offering views across a grove.

photo_credit HENN
HENN

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 hybridtimber 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.

photo_credit HENN
HENN

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. This is where houses resembling residential buildings will be available for training purposes. The outdoor area will accommodate regional and suburban trains for operational training, as well as practice tracks for driving fire engines.

The new Berlin Fire Department and Rescue Services Academy campus will support a stateof- 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.

photo_credit HENN
HENN

Team:

Client: Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung, Bauen und Wohnen

User: Berliner Feuerwehr- und Rettungsdienstakademie (BFRA)

Preservation of listed buildings: Hangar N1: Designed by gmp Architekten

Hangar N2: Designed by Gouvernement Militaire Français et Commandement des Troupes et Services de Berlin

Urban development concept: kleyer.koblitz.letzel.freivogel gesellschaft von architekten mbH, Berlin, with KUULA Land-schaftsarchitekten, Berlin (urban planning appraisal procedure)

Architecture: HENN

Partners in charge: Daniel Festag, Martin Henn

Silke Beckmann, Peter Lee, Julia Menz, Armin Nemati, Gosia Wybieralska

Consultants: KRAFT.RAUM (landscape architecture), GRBV (Structural engineer), Winter Ingenieure (building services), Müller-BBM (building physics), hhp (fire protection), Lichtvision (lighting design), IBP (logistics)

photo_credit HENN
HENN
photo_credit HENN
HENN
photo_credit HENN
HENN

Read story in Nederlands

Products Behind Projects
Product Spotlight
News
Fernanda Canales designs tranquil “House for the Elderly” in Sonora, Mexico
12 Dec 2024 News
Fernanda Canales designs tranquil “House for the Elderly” in Sonora, Mexico

Mexican architecture studio Fernanda Canales has designed a semi-open, circular community center for... More

Australia’s first solar-powered façade completed in Melbourne
12 Dec 2024 News
Australia’s first solar-powered façade completed in Melbourne

Located in Melbourne, 550 Spencer is the first building in Australia to generate its own electricity... More

SPPARC completes restoration of former Victorian-era Army & Navy Cooperative Society warehouse
11 Dec 2024 News
SPPARC completes restoration of former Victorian-era Army & Navy Cooperative Society warehouse

In the heart of Westminster, London, the London-based architectural studio SPPARC has restored and r... More

Green patination on Kyoto coffee stand is brought about using soy sauce and chemicals
10 Dec 2024 News
Green patination on Kyoto coffee stand is brought about using soy sauce and chemicals

Ryohei Tanaka of Japanese architectural firm G Architects Studio designed a bijou coffee stand in Ky... More

New building in Montreal by MU Architecture tells a tale of two facades
10 Dec 2024 News
New building in Montreal by MU Architecture tells a tale of two facades

In Montreal, Quebec, Le Petit Laurent is a newly constructed residential and commercial building tha... More

RAMSA completes Georgetown University's McCourt School of Policy, featuring unique installations by Maya Lin
10 Dec 2024 News
RAMSA completes Georgetown University's McCourt School of Policy, featuring unique installations by Maya Lin

Located on Georgetown University's downtown Capital Campus, the McCourt School of Policy by Robert A... More

MVRDV-designed clubhouse in shipping container supports refugees through the power of sport
9 Dec 2024 News
MVRDV-designed clubhouse in shipping container supports refugees through the power of sport

MVRDV has designed a modular and multi-functional sports club in a shipping container for Amsterdam-... More

Archello Awards 2025 expands with 'Unbuilt' awards categories
9 Dec 2024 Archello Awards
Archello Awards 2025 expands with 'Unbuilt' project awards categories

Archello is excited to introduce a new set of twelve 'Unbuilt' project awards for the Archello Award... More