Dental Clinic of the Free University of Berlin

View of the facade of Aßmannshauser Strasse, corner of Nauheimer Strasse

The Dental Clinic of the Free University of Berlin is a building complex in Berlin-Wilmersdorf that was built between 1955 and 1956 . The dental clinic at Aßmannshauser Strasse 4–6 was built according to plans by the architects Rudolf Ullrich and E. Neubarth. Today the facility used as a polyclinic belongs to the Charité and bears the name Zahnklinik Süd . The building is listed in the Berlin list of monuments under number 09011405.

history

The first university establishment of a dental facility in Berlin was established in 1884 in Dorotheenstrasse with a dental institute . In 1912 the building of the first Berlin dental clinic, which still exists today, was built on Invalidenstrasse, not far from the Charité. After the Second World War and the division of Berlin , the stomatology department first belonged to the East Berlin Humboldt University, then from 1951 to the Charité. Today's Dental Clinic South was founded after the Free University in West Berlin was founded. In 1983 an extension was necessary, which was built in Wedding on the grounds of the Virchow Hospital. After the political change in the GDR , all three locations in Aßmannshauser Strasse were combined in 2003.

Building description

The foundation stone of the dental clinic was laid on June 1, 1955 in the presence of the Governing Mayor Otto Suhr . Following the abandonment of the previous box-type construction by Freie Universität Berlin, the building is based on the formal language of the New Objectivity . The university thus represented a new architectural claim, which was abandoned in the 1960s and led to less valuable new buildings. Although the building concept was based closely on the requirements of the clinic management with regard to the use and division of space, it was supposed to be the most modern dental clinic in Germany, but the architects still had the option of designing the facades themselves.

The dental clinic is integrated relatively inconspicuously into the surrounding residential area. It has the same storey height as the surrounding free-standing houses from the first third of the 20th century. At the upper edge of the street facade shows a row of windows for a mezzanine floor , an entrance relocated to the inside, accessible by six steps and lit by originally two flanking lanterns, and six highlighted square windows to the right of it. The west facade, aligned to a green area, has a large articulated window front with originally rich geometric design of the protruding facade areas in the form of colored triangles, which are no longer available today.

The foyer has a suspended and colored ceiling. An atrium opens up behind it , the height of which has several tiered levels. On the right there was originally a large, light-flooded waiting area for the patients, which was a fundamental innovation compared to the usual design of waiting rooms. Behind it, parallel to the street, was the treatment area, originally a large, elongated room, today with divided rooms and other uses. The building also has an auditorium, one wall of which is completely clad with wood . The ceiling of the hall is sculptured. The view through the window falls on an originally extensive green area, which was however reduced in size in the 1970s with the large-scale development that was common at the time.

In addition to plastered areas, natural stone such as travertine and ceramics were used as building materials for the facades .

literature

• Walter Kornemann: Carl Ulrich Fehr (1889–1955), his scientific work and its significance for the dental clinic of the Free University of Berlin. (Dissertation) Free University of Berlin 1985, OCLC 64255843 .
• Peter E. Gutsche: The dental emergency service in the Dental Clinic South of the Free University of Berlin: an analysis of the clientele over a continuous observation period of six weeks. (Dissertation) Free University of Berlin 1994, OCLC 64520686 .
• Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin (Hrsg.): Berlin and its buildings. Part V, Volume B, Universities. Petersberg 2004, ISBN 3-937251-48-0 , p. 68 f.
• Association of Friends and Supporters of Dentistry at the Free University: 50 years of laying the foundation stone for the Dental Clinic South at the Free University of Berlin. Festschrift. 2005, OCLC 918371097 .

Web links

• 50 years of the dental clinic, press release from the Berlin Dental Association on zaek-berlin.de
• History of dentistry in Berlin on zahnerhaltung.charite.de
• 50 years of Freie Universität Berlin from the perspective of contemporary witnesses. (PDF) on web.fu-berlin.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berlin List of Monuments. ( Memento of January 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, p. 46).
2. ↑ Charité website with a brief outline of the history of university dentistry in Berlin ( memento of the original dated February 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on zahnerhaltung.charite.de 
3. ^ Association of Architects and Engineers in Berlin (ed.): Berlin and its buildings. Part V, Volume B, Universities. Petersberg 2004, p. 68 f.
4. ^ Website of the Berlin Dental Association with a press release on the 50th anniversary of the clinic