After the architectural competition and the first drafts in 2016, a vision has now become reality: the oldest and world’s first socio-pediatric center with an interdisciplinary orientation has received a new stationary building. Despite Corona, despite structural hurdles such as a shortage of skilled workers and delivery problems – on Friday, International Nursing Day, the new children’s center of the clinics in the Upper Bavaria district (kbo) was inaugurated on Heiglhofstrasse.
The kbo children’s center now has a total of 60 beds in social paediatrics and, in cooperation with the Heckscher Clinic, 16 beds for child and adolescent psychiatry. New therapy and group rooms and outpatient care options are added. Like 15 places in a day clinic that runs the Isar-Amper-Klinikum. The construction cost 45 million euros, of which the Free State financed 29 million.
Not a cent “too little”. Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek and Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf agree on this: The project is “unique” and pediatric and adolescent medicine is one of the most important topics, says Holetschek. Every child has talents and strengths, every child needs structures in which it can develop and every child, says Scharf, needs a place where it can be with itself. “Here is such a place. Here it is promoted individually with great dedication.”
The future entrance area, where the speeches will be held, is bright. A friendly mixture of wood and glass. Not everything is finished yet, the large aquarium still without fish and water. But one suspects that two of the most important wishes of the medical director of the kbo children’s center, Volker Mall, have been implemented by the H2M architects: lots of light and plenty of room for movement. While the parents wait, the children can play. Should they even.
Not quite finished yet: the new construction of the kbo children’s center on Heiglhofstraße.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The rainy weather should please the big snail outside, which is slowly crawling up a bright yellow ramp in the atrium of the entrance area. Pretty wet. And once the figure has reached the top in the viewer’s imagination, all it really has to do is flop down – into the lush green. “The snail is our motto animal,” says Volker Mall. And he smiles because the snail in the new extension is really a symbolic figure. “Higher, faster, further” doesn’t apply here. But only the wish: Find your way. Slow be the snail. But persistent. Just like the many children in the kbo center who bravely fought against their disabilities, developmental delays, trauma or chronic illnesses every day. Just like Annemarie Espig.
Finding her way: Annemarie Espig (left), with one of the project’s sponsors, Ursula von Bayern.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The 19-year-old is blind and has mental disabilities. But at the inauguration ceremony, she boldly goes forward and sings a song from the musical “The Lion King” in a glittering dress. Bright, with a clear soprano, not a trace of insecurity. And tops all the speeches of the day. Since 2006, she has been coming to the clinic in Munich with her parents from the Ore Mountains twice a year. Music is her whole life, says her mother. And Annemarie Espig nods her head. “I have singing lessons, play the piano and the organ,” she says quietly but proudly. And if it’s the right music, then she also likes to dance. Like many children in the center, Annemarie Espig has come a long way and has gradually worked everything out. The socio-pediatric center treats 13,500 children a year, around 850 of them inpatients. And supports each child as individually as possible.
Wide corridors, light-flooded rooms
Back to the snail. You can find her everywhere. In that atrium and, for example, as a small black pictogram on the many glass doors. Proximity to people, a soothing atmosphere – the corridors on the ground floor and the three differently colored upper floors are wide. Wheelchair users and Bobby Car speedsters can meet here. There are small relaxation corners that give a little structure. For example for autistic children. And there are the large parent-child rooms with a huge window to the outside and two beds. One can be quickly stowed away in the closet. And again there is space.
The kbo children’s center currently has 1,000 registrations for outpatients and well over 100 for inpatients, says the medical director. And he emphasizes that the numbers are likely to increase. The pandemic left many psychological traces, especially among children and young people. “We have to get to the bottom of the causes, we mustn’t let up so that nothing collapses,” says Mall. The kbo extension building should definitely be a further step to prevent this.