CBF Charitee garden in Berlin - Germany

>>>Historical gardens

Charitee gardens	add the site name
Berlin	add the city name
Germany	add the country
Ahmed kamal(s)	add your name(s), optional
Historical garden	if applicable,enter the year of listing

Why is this case relevant?

Charité Campus Benjamin Franklin, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. It founded after the division of Germany and Berlin to four occupied sectors to satisfy the needs of the western part. The decision was taken in 1958 to build a large new hospital and modern complex university in all of Europe. The new building combined all Institute departments and lectures. In 1994 the hospital named to Benjamin Franklin University hospital due to the support from the united states. At this time the hospital was home to 36 research department and offered 1200 beds. The original landscape design of the campus designed by Prof/ Walter Rossow in 1967. The case study is very interesting because it is well maintained from the 60s till now with the same concept of outstanding design from floor pattern, water feature, landmarks, trees, ponds, and outdoor furniture. In 2018 the decision was taken to demolish the old buildings around the main campus and make new extensions for the hospital which affect the open space around the hospital.

Which idea of ‘design with nature’ guides the design concept of this site?

The situation now from my site visiting that the Gardens of Charitte is well maintained according to the old design in 1960 from the landscape architect prof/Walter Rossow. But I found out that the elements of the garden became very old and not represent the outstanding architecture building because it considered the first modern building in Berlin in this era. Therefore the design idea to preserve the historic gardens in an intensive way because there will be more pressure on the open space in the future due to the new requirement and needs for the users of these gardens according to the new extensions.

Which challenges is this landscape facing?

In 2018 the decision was taken to demolish the old buildings around the hospital and make some extensions for the hospital. The new architecture drawings show that they will remove the big parking area in the south of the garden and the old building in the north to make new buildings, especially for the researcher students. Therefore the number of students will be increased. In this way, the garden should be inclusive open space to satisfy the needs of students, Vistors, and patients. Designing with nature is not an easy task because it needs specific knowledge to deal with the historical areas and it contains too many cultures values-

What would be your strategy for improvement?

The main strategy for developing is to preserve the historical cultural values in this site and keep the historical trees and pathways direction. There are too many objectives should be achieved to satisfy the needs of different kind of users because the function for the hospital will be change for not only the patients but also for researchers students, Therefore there are some building with new functions will be added and the open space should reflect these new function and the main objective will be:

1-Preserve and maintaining the main historical objects such as the main paths and historical trees, moreover the existing furniture. 2-Increasing the connectivity between the old and new building with the new design of open space. 3-Redesign the open space to make it more inclusive for patients, visitors, students, and local neighbors as well. 4-enhancing the quality of open space. 5-enhancing the accessibility to the new building.

Charitee hospital considers one of the main famous hospitals in Berlin and this site is related to the memory of people and should be respected and the new main concept should be done with the stakeholders besides the main users as well.