Munich: Institute of Anatomy

1905 – 1907

Architect: Max Littmann

Pettenkoferstraße 11, Munich, Germany

The Royal Anatomy Munich was built from 1905 to 1907 as the New Anatomical Institute according to plans by architect Max Littmann.

Reinforced concrete

Even at the time of its construction, it was considered unique in terms of functional design, technical equipment and the use of reinforced concrete..

The entire building is executed in reinforced concrete, which had never been ventured to this extent on the exterior facade.

To contemporaries, it therefore appeared, as stated in a report in the Süddeutsche Bauzeitung in 1908, as if formed from one piece of concrete:

“… the walls smooth and calm in the fine and dull gray of the concrete; almost their only decoration consists in the lines resulting from the construction of the iron framework, which also determine the simple division of the walls in the interior. …

To such an extent, the use of reinforced concrete as a material has not yet been dared in our architecture; one can say that the whole main building is actually made of one piece of concrete, …

The clear development of the forms must be immediately plausible even to those who do not yet know the purpose – so organic does the whole ensemble appear.”

Construction

Due to the use of exposed concrete for facades, walls, ceilings and outdoor facilities, the irregular three-wing complex with a central dome was one of the major works of the beginning of modernism and at the same time one of the first large reinforced concrete buildings in Germany.

Building

The New Anatomical Institute is the successor building to the Anatomy designed by Leo von Klenze between 1824 and 1825, which was demolished after bomb damage during World War II.

The building consists of a central building in east-west direction with a length of about ninety meters.

At the ends of the central building is the west wing with a length of forty-one meters and the east wing with a length of fifty meters in a north-south direction.

Structure

The building is divided into basement, basement floor and three upper floors with a height of about twenty-seven meters.

The centrally located semi-circular dissecting room, which extends over two floors, is designed as a classroom with five rosette-shaped and open adjoining apsidal rooms for student work.

Dome

The dome above the microscopy room has a diameter of about twenty-two meters with a shell thickness of 10 cm and is one of the first domes made of reinforced concrete in Germany.

Other rooms in the anatomy include the lecture hall designed by Littmann in the shape of an amphitheater, the microscopy hall, the anatomical collection, library, stair hall, laboratories and study.

The building survived the Second World War without significant destruction.

Monument Protection and Renovation

Today, the complex is a listed building and is still used as an anatomy by the Medical Faculty of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich.

From 2004 to 2006, an extension to the south was added to the west wing. In 2014, the building was extensively renovated.