With the construction of the Brandenburg Clinic by entrepreneur family Michels and recognition of the Waldsiedlung Wandlitz as a health resort, the development of the area began in the early 1990s as a centre for convalescence and rehabilitation in the areas of psychosomatics, orthopaedics, cardiology and geriatrics. Kurt, Kurt-Josef and Kai-Uwe Michels from Münster in North-Rhine Westphalia were able to secure a 100-year leasehold on the area from the State of Brandenburg. Gnädinger Architects have prepared an urban planning study for the site consisting of three building plots on what is currently wasteland between the wooded areas. On this site the investor, who is experienced in the construction and operation of clinics throughout Germany, is planning to build additional dwelling units, a row house complex and facilities for assisted living.

For these building plots Gnädinger Architects team is currently preparing three applications for the local development plan procedure. The aim is to create an architecture that harmonises with the idyllic, natural environment in terms of cubic volume, transparency and design of the façades. A complex with 150 dwelling units for assisted living is to be built on Plot 1 with about 14,000 square metres. Plots 2 and 3 are suitable for row houses and row-end houses, as well as for residential buildings with dwelling units of different sizes. The low-density development will blend in with the wooded surroundings and form a modern counterpart to the meanwhile rehabilitated saddle-roofed buildings in the neighbourhood.

Prior to German reunification, the approx. two-square-kilometre Waldsiedlung, surrounded by mixed and coniferous woodlands, was an exclusive place of residence for functionaries of the SED Politburo and their families. Following the Hungarian uprising, the hermetically sealed settlement located 30 kilometres north of Berlin was planned as a secure abode – a form of “gated community” – and completed in 1961. After 1989 the complex was initially under the administration of the GDR Ministry of Health, and post-1990 it was placed in private trusteeship. With the densification of the neighbourhood and construction of new houses and apartments, together with facilities for assisted living, the location with excellent infrastructure will experience a further upgrade.