Der Mäusebunker

 

Der Mäusebunker is something that needs to be seen in person. This building is awesome and has a lot of history behind it. It’s been saved in my to see list for a while!

So the Research institute for experimental medicine was originally called the Central Animal Laboratories of the Free University of Berlin up until 2003. So you can see where the name mouse bunker came from. Obviously animal testing is very controversial and it’s a shame that this building was used for such a horrible purpose.

The building is a very short walk away from the Institute for Hygiene & Microbiology as well as the Benjamin Franklin Medical Centre. Now this was purely because of the building being built for animal testing and breeding and they wanted to make sure that everything was sterile.

All three buildings together worked on making vaccines and new medicine.

Gerd Hänska & Magdalena Hänska who were actually married started the project together in 1965 to 1967. Construction started in 1971 but the couple were working on different projects by this time so only Gerd Hänska continued with the Mäusebunker. Kurt Schmersow Joined the project and contruction finished 10 years later in 1981.

It has 9 floors!!

After being completely empty since 2019, the current owner of the building had plans of demolition, but due to its popularity with architecture lovers and how strongly it’s represented as a brutalist building, a petition was started in 2020.

The building was listed in May 2023! So that’s another win for architecture fans :)