The ‘Clinic for Hematology, Oncology, Immunology, Palliative Medicine, Infectiology and Tropical Medicine’ at München Klinik Schwabing treats about 4,500 patients annually, both in- and outpatients. The immunological competence is beneficial to patients in all areas of the clinic and is used in the main area of stem cell transplantation as well as in the field of infectious and immunodeficiency diseases. As in most Central European countries, the clinic architecture of München Klinik Schwabing has long since become inadequate and structurally outdated for high-performance university medicine. Gradually, radical conversions and new buildings have been carried out. These are ideal prerequisites for a teaching research project that focuses on the design of a Comprehensive Cancer Center, i.e. a new tumor outpatient clinic. As part of her guest professorship, Gemma Koppen undertakes this design task with 12 international material students from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich under the title Architecture as 2nd Body. For this purpose, she developed a special, three-stage teaching concept, which includes an intuitive as well as an architecture psychological analysis of design factors, which is translated into an evidence-based design. The students spend several days in the clinic for their analyses, take part in guided tours by the medical director, Prof. Dr. Wendtner, and discussions with patients and nursing staff. They not only collect architectural impressions, but also prospective data which are incorporated into the designs and which allow not only aesthetic but also scientific comparisons of their architecture. The plans, models and study results are shown in the annual exhibition of the TUM. The book will be published in German and English in 2020.
Selected publications:
Bommes Fernández, I. (2017). Sechs Fragen an Gemma Koppen. München Architektur Programm.
Vollmer, T. C., & Koppen, G. (2008). Unter welchem Dach liegt die Zukunft der Psychoonkologie? InFo Onkologie, 11(8), 591–594.
Vollmer, T. C., & Koppen, G. (2010). Architectuur als tweede lichaam: De rol van architectuur bij de verzorging van kanker. Lay-out, 11, 1–16.