New master plan for Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg

The interdisciplinary competition for the Helmut Schmidt University has been decided. This is a climate-neutral master plan for the University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg in the Jenfeld district. The jury, chaired by architect Stefan Behnisch, ultimately awarded the prize to the Stuttgart team h4a Gessert + Randecker Architekten, Glück Landschaftsarchitektur and Wick+Partner Architekten Stadtplaner. The engineering firm Olaf Hildebrandt, Holzgerlingen, provided energy consulting support. The winning design bears the title “sustainable. innovative. climate-neutral.”.

The Douaumont barracks were built on the twenty-six hectare site in the 1930s. These were soon used as an army officers’ school. In the 1970s, heinlewischer Architekten (Stuttgart) developed the Bundeswehr university campus there. This can be traced back to the then Minister of Defense, Helmut Schmidt, when he convened the “Commission for the Reorganization of Training and Education in the Bundeswehr”. The science campus was therefore named after him. Today, the Helmut Schmidt University offers space for around 2,500 students.

The urban context of the campus is characterized by the building typologies of the barracks and university buildings in the interior of the site. The open spaces embed these in a park-like setting. The ensemble of buildings and the landscape design by Wolfgang Miller are now listed buildings.
Today, fifty years later, a two-phase competition was held to find an urban and open space planning concept for the Helmut Schmidt University. The aim was to develop a campus with the formulation of a medium and long-term master plan. On the one hand, there are plans to centralize several locations that were previously spread across other properties. On the other hand, an expert opinion from the awarding authority, the Hamburg Federal Building Department, stated that “deficiencies in terms of building regulations and functional deficits have been identified in some buildings that make a complete refurbishment of the buildings absolutely necessary”. The decision was therefore made to demolish the buildings in cooperation with the heritage office. Another overarching premise is the development of a climate-neutral campus. In general, the current gross floor area will increase from around 88,000 to 107,000 square meters. The new plans for Helmut Schmidt University will probably cost around one billion euros.

The competition winner for the Helmut Schmidt University impresses with its skillfully dimensioned building clusters, which blend into the existing buildings without being austere and as a matter of course. The building masses are mainly concentrated in the middle of the plot. The concept picks up on the modular structure of the existing building and thus the basic architectural idea from the 1970s. This allows a loose connection between old and new as well as a flexible allocation of the usage areas. The library is developed in the same design language, but as a solitary building it forms a contrast and point of orientation. The positioning and accentuation of the building marks the center of the campus and is located in direct proximity to the cafeteria. In summary, the jury praised the master plan for the Helmut Schmidt University in particular for its structural strength, flexibility and coherent overall concept.

The jury was also impressed by the spatial quality and functionality of the open space planning for the Helmut Schmidt University. This is because the landscape architecture also builds on the existing design concept, for example with regard to the modeled terrain. This means that the existing structure is not outdone. Instead, an open “educational landscape” now connects the landscape and structural history and future. The open space picks up on the scale and grain of the building construction: in addition to the many square buildings, organic islands now flow through the site. The open space opens up to the south into the existing landscape. A large multivalent recreation area has been established in the middle of the site.

How are aspects of climate protection and sustainability being addressed? The response to the issue of existing trees is “preservation, supplementation and replacement”. The green islands not only offer people naturally shaded and playful areas. Wildlife also benefits from the habitat mosaic. In addition, active water management is planned in line with the sponge city concept. And there are also photovoltaic systems on the roofs for self-consumption. The building materials used are regional, reusable and recycled.

What about the peripheral areas of Helmut Schmidt University? The structural centralization ensures a playable and green edge. This enables a gentle connection to the surroundings, especially to the residential buildings to the north. Although the car and bicycle parking spaces are located in the peripheral areas, they are topographically integrated under green roofs. This prevents a dreary-looking development situation. By creating a ring road, the interior of the campus is largely free of traffic. Another great feature is that the campus offers internal mobility options in the form of scooters and bicycles, for example. The previously rather forbidding site entrances are being upgraded with loose access areas to create an address.

However, there are also aspects of the master plan for Helmut Schmidt University that are not yet convincing. The almost identical reconstruction of the cubature raises the question of the purpose of the complete demolition and intervention in the monument. And how is the outdated utilization concept to be improved by almost identical structures? The jury also criticizes the positioning and thus the usability of the library and the technical center.
The landscape architecture, on the other hand, shows an unnecessarily high degree of sealing in the center of the campus. The rainwater troughs, which are desirable in themselves, are also not yet convincing in detail. The location, function and appearance still need to be fine-tuned.