Generalplaner + Architekten BDA RDS Partner
Leaders in health and science based on 75 years of expertise

Founded in 1950 in Hattingen / Ruhr, the RDS Partner architectural office has continuously developed into a nationwide architectural company. Under the leadership of the managing main shareholders Arne Thorben Damm and Peter M. H. Damm, it now implements measures in numerous project areas with around 60 employees.

These projects include, among other things, buildings for health, for research, for administration, industry and the environment, for education and culture, for the judiciary, for seniors, for living and for monument preservation. The particular focus of the work is on the planning and implementation of healthcare buildings as well as buildings for research and teaching.

RDS Partner-Team: v. l. Uwe Ihlo, Marco Zepper, Monika Aulbur, Volker Brachvogel, Michael Holewik, Rémi Bonnefous, Andreas Koch, Arne Thorben Damm, Anrd Krug, Roland Ladusch, Peter M. H. Damm

The complex specialist knowledge acquired over 75 years in the planning and implementation of healthcare buildings, both in new planning and renovation, especially during ongoing operations, represents a unique selling point of the architectural company and shapes its. “A comprehensive knowledge of hospital construction activity in Germany and a constant eye on the development of the healthcare system at home and abroad enable us to provide expert answers to the challenges in this project field,” explain Peter M. H. Damm and Arne Thorben Damm. “In the last few decades in particular, RDS Partner has also developed outstanding expertise in research construction. In an international partnership with Swiss colleagues, we planned and implemented the Friedrich Loeffler Institute – Federal Research Institute for Animal Health (FLI), one of the world’s most modern infectious disease research institutes with a construction cost of around 356 million euros,” Peter M. H. Damm and Arne Thorben Damm continue. The new building enables research work up to the highest biosafety level 4, including on large animals. To date, only two other research institutes worldwide have corresponding capabilities. RDS Partner was honoured with prizes for this project.

Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut Insel Riems bei Greifswald Bundesforschungsinstitut für Tiergesundheit

As an experienced and at the same time innovative team, RDS Partner are committed to supporting their clients at all times. People are therefore always the focus of their work. An individual, functional and precise architecture is just as much a part of the central mission statement for RDS Partner as an economical and sustainable, cost-effective and timely implementation, but above all also of high quality. Their business partners also value the guaranteed continuity of the company. Today, the third generation is represented by Arne Thorben Damm, who is not only the youngest member of the BDA (Association of German Architects) but also the youngest member of the AKG (Architects for Hospital Construction and Healthcare), leading the company alongside Peter M. H. Damm.

LVR-Klinikum Düsseldorf Neubau Diagnostik-, Therapie- und Forschungszentrum (DTFZ)

The Architekten BDA RDS Partner completed one of the largest and most sophisticated new psychiatric buildings in Germany for the Landschaftsverband Rheinland (LVR) with a total construction volume of around 65 million euros for the first construction phase. The Diagnostics, Therapy and Research Center (DTFZ) was created as the new centre of the LVR Clinic Düsseldorf. The first construction phase includes nursing wards with 287 beds (regular and optional services) and 8-day hospital places, examination and treatment services from general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and neurology, including a stroke unit. In addition to three laboratories, diagnostic functional areas of radiology (MRI and CT) as well as physical therapy offerings are planned. Two four or five-story buildings were created, connected via a glass entrance hall on the main urban axis, the Lindenallee, with connecting bridges. The architecture creates a scaled identity both externally and internally: a place of mental health, as well as excellent functional and human quality, was created here. The clear architecture with its differentiated building shell exudes a high degree of significance, but still fits into the hospital’s building ensemble. The overall design is based on the colour spectrum of the local lime tree. Transparency and retreat spaces, wood and accent colours create a protected, warm and harmonious atmosphere inside the building.

Universität Tübingen Ersatzneubau Interfakultäres Institut für Biochemie IFIB

RDS Partner further realised the new Medical Research Center I for the Düsseldorf University Hospital. The building is accessible on foot via two traffic axes. The office, seminar, meeting and lounge rooms are arranged along the northern access axis, which is intended for general passenger traffic and can be accessed without access controls. The four-story, fully glazed entrance hall is crossed via footbridges. The laboratory rooms are accessible via the southern access axis. Both traffic routes are in turn connected to each other via three parts of the building designed as a triple connection system. Two landscaped courtyards allow for natural lighting as well as ventilation. All laboratories and the laboratory corridors are designed to be S2-capable. The arrangement of a central changing room in each triple alliance enables the formation of contiguous S2 areas. This floor plan concept ensures maximum flexibility and enables adaptation to future developments.

Erweiterung Gesamtschule Hattingen am Standort Lange Horst

Considering the different affinities between the disciplines, a total of 14 institutes with different space requirements will be distributed across the floors in such a way that optimal conditions are provided for interdisciplinary collaboration. The grid on which the floor plan of the new building is based also determines the organising principle for the uniform design of the office and laboratory facades. The overarching design specifications are met with a rear-ventilated facade made of white exposed concrete elements in combination with basalt grey window systems in a post-transom construction with a structural glazing look. The building is structured using fully glazed cuts in both the north and south facades. In the laboratory area, there are high-quality lounge areas for informal communication. The main entrance on the north side is accentuated by an exposed concrete cube within the otherwise glazed facade construction.

Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf Neubau Medizinisches Forschungszentrum I

The research institute for the Center for Molecular Biology of Plants at the University of Tübingen and the recently built Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry (IFIB) are good examples of the outstanding collaboration between the public sector and independent architects. The architectural work here was initially provided by the Office of Tübingen / Vermögen und Bau Baden-Württemberg and in the implementation phase by the RDS Team und Partner.

A triple gymnasium including a cafeteria was built for the NRW sports school at the site of the listed Märkisches Gymnasium in Bochum-Wattenscheid. As an elite sports school, particularly talented students are supported in cooperation with the Westphalia/Bochum Olympic Training Center.

Neubau der Dreifachsporthalle der „Sportschule NRW“ am Märkischen Gymnasium in Bochum-Wattenscheid

As a school construction award winner, RDS Partner has realised another new school building with the ‘Erweiterung Gesamtschule Hattingen am Standort Lange Horst’ (Extension of the Hattingen Comprehensive School at the Lange Horst location) based on an award-winning competition design.

Following a series of successful competition wins in recent years – such as for the replacement building on Steinhäuserstraße at St. Vincentius Clinics gAG in Karlsruhe and the new construction of the Pediatric and Adolescent Clinic at the University Medical Center Freiburg, some of which have already been implemented – RDS Partner most recently secured first place in three Europe-wide procurement procedures. With the new forensic clinics in Lünen, Wuppertal and Essen-Heidhausen, three exciting major projects are currently being planned and implemented in the immediate vicinity of the Hattingen headquarters on the banks of the Ruhr. The consistent use of the digital planning method BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a matter of course for RDS Partner in these and all other current projects.

Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf Neubau Medizinisches Forschungszentrum I

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