Monday, August 19
“Centre Pompidou” for Berlin: What next for the ICC?
Its huge shell lies next to the motorway in Berlin-Westend like a vast abandoned spacecraft. The International Congress Centre is one of the city’s most impressive buildings, but it has also been out of use since April 2014 after it was discovered to be severely contaminated with asbestos. Although it is officially listed under Denkmalschutz protection, new reports on the feasibility of the site and the extent of its contamination are to be published later this year. As such, Berlin’s Economic Senator Franziska Giffey went on the radio to talk about the future of the site and spoke about the possibility of renovating the exhibition grounds, saying that she could see it as a “Centre Pompidou” for Berlin.
Once the reports are released, nothing will stand in the way of the city accepting a tender for the site – something which the current administration wants to complete within their current term. Hotels and office buildings may also be erected as part of the project: whoever submits the winning concept for the space will receive a leasehold on the property lasting 99 years.
But much remains uncertain. Another idea being examined is the proposal from the developers of the Euref Campus in Schöneberg to partially demolish some of the exhibition halls at Messe Berlin and build a new location at Tempelhof Airport, but what role the ICC plays in this plan is not entirely clear.
