Today's Benjamin Franklin Campus was the first university hospital in Europe to combine all medical departments as well as teaching and research facilities in one building. Inspired by several guidelines from US hospital construction of the time, the Steglitz University Hospital was designed as a compact building with short distances. The clinic's exterior design is characterized by screens. This element, which serves to protect against the sun, was often used by the architects Curtis & Davis, for example in the Caribe Building and the main building of the New Orleans Municipal Library. Except from sun protection, the screen in Steglitz contributes to aesthetics and the protection of privacy, shielding sensitive patio areas from prying eyes, for example. The pattern-forming, mesh-like concrete peaks suggest the formal representation of a spine. 

The clinic is heritage protected since 2012. The Benjamin Franklin Campus as a whole has been a listed as heritage protected since 2013 and is one of the most important representatives of post-war modernism in Germany. The screen is proving to be extremely difficult to maintain (last updated on May 7, 2024).