House of Culture and Education

The tower high-rise seen from Stargarder Strasse (formerly Palaisstrasse on the market square )

HKB tower seen from the market square

The House of Culture and Education (HKB) is a cultural event center in Neubrandenburg ( Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , Germany ). Since 2014 it has housed the regional library, an event hall, tourist and city information, two café-restaurants, a fashion department store and several offices.

The building complex located in the center of the city north of the market square is a typical example of the simple modernist GDR architecture of the 1960s. The historical dimensions of the market square were limited, the HKB was built as one of the few new buildings regardless of the medieval layout of the city with its centuries-old sight lines.

The 56-meter-high tower tower on the south side of the complex is one of the buildings that characterize the cityscape ; it intentionally towers over the construction site of the former princely palace . The skyscraper, also known as the “HKB Tower” or “Kulturfinger”, is the tallest building in Neubrandenburg after the 90 meter high tower of the Gothic Marienkirche . The entire complex was extensively renovated with taxpayers' money for around 44 million euros by 2014, but the occupancy rate is still not profitable in 2017. It is managed by the Neubrandenburg housing company Neuwoges.

history

The foyer of the HKB (1965)

After the end of the Second World War , more than 80 percent of Neubrandenburg's old town was in ruins. In the years from 1952 to the beginning of the 1960s, the inner city was rebuilt. The construction of the cultural center, which was inaugurated in 1965, began in 1963 according to the design by the Berlin architect Iris Grund . The total construction costs amounted to 13 million marks from the GDR .

The reinforced concrete skeleton structure was erected around an inner courtyard in the form of four wings of different cubature . The south side facing the market square with the foyer and exhibition hall was extensively glazed. The exhibition hall has a floor area of 480 m². The windowless multi-purpose hall with a stage had 600 seats at the time, the number was later reduced to 450. Among other things, it serves as a venue for the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic and the Neustrelitz State Theater . The regional library in Neubrandenburg is located in the eastern wing . During the GDR era, the HKB housed more than 50 working groups and groups for young people and adults.

The 56-meter-high tower-like high-rise building with 16 floors was erected to the southeast on Stargarder Straße and was built as a steel structure with curtain walls . The platform provides a view of the city's surroundings including the Tollensesees and the medieval city fortifications. The tower high-rise - also known under the informal name “Kulturfinger” - was created as a dominant counterpart to the Marienkirche in order to demonstrate the superiority of the socialist social order.

Until January 1992 the HKB was subordinate to the city's cultural office, then it was transferred together with the city hall to the city's event center Neubrandenburg GmbH .

modification

The ownership of the land and building was transferred to the municipal Neubrandenburg housing company, which carried out a realization competition in 2005 with the aim of expanding and converting it into a media and administration center. In the course of the planned changes, the hall and the north wing will be removed and a new hall will be built over the previous inner courtyard. The renovation work was originally supposed to be completed in 2010. However, the Ministry of the Interior only granted approval for the construction project at the end of 2010 after an examination of the city budget.

The renovation, for which a total cost of 30.2 million euros was initially estimated, began in March 2012 with the renovation of the tower high-rise and should be completed by April 2014. Until the completion of the renovation for the Neubrandenburg housing company neu.woges in April 2015, the costs multiplied to almost 44 million euros, which caused a funding gap in the budget of the city of Neubrandenburg. A demolition of the complex was not previously examined in detail with reference to the monument protection. Overall, the renovation is an example of mismanagement . Thus, Neubrandenburg found its way into the black book of the taxpayers' association . Several years after the completion of the renovation, entire floors of the tower have not yet been rented or only rented to municipal locations, the ancillary costs of the tower construction are up to 100 percent above the previously estimated figures.