Closed to the public for 12 years due to asbestos, one of the world's most iconic conference and convention centres is set for a rebirth as a hub for arts, culture, events, and even... conferences!
It was a time when the city of West Berlin, isolated by the Wall, received billions of DM in subsidies from the Federal Republic of Germany's government to aid its economic survival. And one of the most prominent sectors at the time was business tourism. So, to make the western part of the German capital as attractive as possible for convention tourism, Berlin went big: a gigantic convention centre, the ICC or International Congress Centre, was taking shape next to the exhibition centre.
The building, inaugurated in 1979, proved to be spectacular. Covered in aluminium, 300 metres long, it evoked a spaceship, worthy of Star Wars, a reflection of the architectural movement "futurism". The interior also gave free rein to an imagination fed by science fiction. Multicoloured neon lights guided the delegates through the galleries to the various meeting rooms – 80 in total, including several auditoriums. The ICC had a capacity for some 15,000 delegates. All of this cost one billion DM (500 million euros) at the time.
In its heyday, the ICC hosted the congress sections of major Berlin trade fairs, from the IFA consumer electronics show to the "Green Week" agricultural fair, from the ITB travel trade show, to now-defunct events such as the overseas import fair "Partner of Progress". Prestigious concerts were also held there.
And then asbestos finally got the better of the ICC. In 2014, the latter closed its doors for a thorough decontamination. In the meantime, Berlin built other congress venues. While the gigantic ICC awaited new functions. The renovation project is indeed titanic and few investors have dared to embark on this venture.
But it's finally done. The Berlin Senate has indeed announced a buyer – the only one still in the running: the Leipzig Spinnerei, a former cotton mill that has become a hub for creativity, art, and events, housing young SMEs as well as restaurants and boutiques.
A priori, the Spinnerei is set to become the new owner of the ICC, which is now a listed building, as part of a consortium that will still include the city of Berlin. The final result of the tender will be announced before the end of the year, after which work could begin immediately, likely allowing the ICC to be fully open to the public at the start of the next decade. The idea is for it to be the heart of a concept built around arts, culture, creative industries, innovation, technologies, and MICE.
