Overview
- The university ordered BH‑N at Ernst‑Reuter‑Platz closed on Friday after external experts judged the building’s spray‑mist fire‑suppression system non‑operational, leaving required automatic fire protection unmet.
- BH‑N contains five lecture halls and numerous seminar rooms, so the closure immediately removes key teaching space and requires schedule changes for students and staff.
- President Fatma Deniz, who has held office for only weeks, said the university has drawn up a high‑priority plan to allow partial reopening and will submit it to the Bezirksamt Charlottenburg‑Wilmersdorf while it assesses organizational and financial effects.
- Berlin’s science senator reported the spray‑mist systems were installed in series across buildings and that a taskforce is coordinating with the senate building authority, but no technical fix has yet been identified and further inspections are underway.
- The district says it has inspected several campus buildings but has not issued a formal usage ban for BH‑N, and the cluster of recent closures has increased operational strain and political pressure on the university.