International Congress Center Berlin

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International Congress Center (ICC Berlin)
The international congress center with radio tower

The international congress center with radio tower

Data
place Berlin-Westend
architect Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte
Client Senate of Berlin
Architectural style Modern
Construction year 1975-1979
height 40 m
Floor space around 27,900 m²
Coordinates 52 ° 30 '16.5 "  N , 13 ° 16' 49.4"  E Coordinates: 52 ° 30 '16.5 "  N , 13 ° 16' 49.4"  E
particularities
Europe's largest congress center:
2 large and 80 smaller halls

The International Congress Center Berlin ( ICC Berlin ) in the Westend part of Berlin's Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district was one of the largest congress centers in the world. The 313 meter long, 89 meter wide and almost 40 meter high building was built according to plans by the Berlin architects Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte and opened on April 2, 1979 after four years of construction. A striking feature is the building's silver-gray aluminum facade in the style of high-tech architecture .

It is one of the most important buildings of the German post-war period , cost more than 924 million marks (adjusted for purchasing power in today's currency: around 1,071 million euros) and was thus the most expensive building in West Berlin . The structure is now considered "technically worn out". The owner is the State of Berlin and the operator Messe Berlin GmbH.

The future of the building has been discussed in Berlin for years. Messe Berlin has no interest in continuing to operate, as the operating costs exceed the income from events. A demolition was also discussed, but this is rejected by large parts of Berlin politics. The last public event in the building was on March 9, 2014 and after the Daimler - Annual General Meeting of 9 April 2014 was closed. So far it has not been clarified whether and when the ICC will be renovated and who will bear the costs. So far there are no viable concepts for further use after renovation.

In the course of the refugee crisis in Europe in 2015 , the ICC has been used as an emergency shelter for initially more than 500 residents since December 2015. In June 2017, around 260 people were still living there. From May 2016 to June 2017 the building was also used as one of Berlin's first contact points for refugees. Up to 1,400 asylum seekers were processed here every day.

In September 2019 the building was listed as a historical monument .

building

The ICC from a bird's eye view
Interior architecture of the ICC
Berlin special postage stamp on the occasion of the opening in 1979

With 80 halls and rooms from 20 to 3000 (room 2) up to 5000 seats (room 1) and its extensive range of services, the ICC Berlin is suitable for all kinds of congresses and events. A three-storey bridge structure belonging to the ICC Berlin connects the building on level 2 of halls 14 and 15 on the neighboring exhibition grounds . This connection with the exhibition grounds also allowed mixed or cross-use, which enabled economic capacity utilization for congress centers of this size. Overall, the ICC has a gross floor area of ​​more than 200,000 m², of which only around 30,000 m² could be used for events. The large traffic areas were perceived by the visitors as an advantage of the ICC compared to other congress buildings and were one of the reasons for the numerous awards that the ICC received as a congress location. They were part of the architects' basic idea "to create a house of communication".

Originally, as part of the extension of today's U1 underground line to Theodor-Heuss-Platz, it was planned to connect the ICC Berlin to the underground network. For this purpose, extensive structural work was carried out under the pedestrian underpass at the Messedamm / Masurenallee intersection . However, this concept was rejected, but areas will still be reserved for a possible resumption of this traffic planning.

Due to the high operating costs despite the above-average booking situation and the upcoming high renovation costs, the exhibition company and the Berlin Senate were considering building a new congress center on the grounds of the Deutschlandhalle .

On May 27, 2008, the Senate passed its decision in favor of the ICC. The Deutschlandhalle has now been demolished for 4.8 million euros and replaced by the new CityCube Berlin exhibition and congress center . The then Senator for Economic Affairs, Harald Wolf , assumed that after the end of the relatively expensive renovation of the ICC (182 million euros according to the Berliner Zeitung and up to 368 million euros according to the daily newspaper Die Welt ), the operating costs in 2016 would be between 6.6 and 9.7 million euros. It will only be possible to estimate the economic viability of the ICC at this point in time. According to the plans, the construction of a new congress center would have cost around 150 million euros - but this figure has always been controversial.

The necessary renovation is proving to be so costly, among other things, because the entire technical equipment of the building, including the existing large turbines for the enormous air exchange, was housed in the basement under a concrete ceiling. For the necessary replacement of the technology, the base plate must be torn open.

Below the bridge to the fairgrounds are the garages for the company fire brigade of the Messe Berlin and the entrance to the VIP lounge in the basement, through the so-called "VIP elevator" is directly connected to the access to the stage on the fourth floor.

The entire event technology is transported via a freight elevator in the radio tower courtyard of the exhibition center to the so-called "Fahrstrasse stage" over the bridge to the stage area.

Technical Equipment

The technical standard High Definition Television (HDTV) has been available in the event rooms of the ICC Berlin since the end of 2009 . The 16: 9 format with a full HD resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels is offered for projectors, LED screens and event notebooks . This equipment ensures a higher quality in the legibility of text and the presentation of images. By feeding the HDTV signal into the cable network, the signal distribution can be displayed inexpensively on commercially available DVB-C receivers and HDTV screens. Furthermore, a DVB-C-compatible set-top box in conjunction with an HDMI- compatible video projector enables large-screen presentations such as public viewing .

The ICC Berlin has its own emergency power generator which, if necessary, supplies enough electricity to supply the building independently of the Berlin network when it is fully utilized. It is also equipped with its own police station, including detention cells, which is only manned during major events. Both facilities are located in the basement of the parking garage, which is connected to the south entrance of the building and on the roof of which is the green roof garden , which is used as an event area.

  • ICC aerial view from the west

  • ICC main entrance in the north

  • ICC with flyover in the west

  • The ICC from the AVUS entrance (west)

  • ICC car park with roof garden (from the southeast)

Awards

  • 1984–1986: Best Convention Center of the Year from Conferences & Exhibitions International magazine 
  • Every year from 2004 to 2009, the ICC Berlin received the World Travel Award in the category World's / Europe's Leading Conference & Convention Center . Further nominations followed until the temporary closure in 2014. The award is considered the " Oscar of the travel industry" and is presented every year by the London- based media company World Travel Awards Ltd. awarded. Around 160,000 experts from the tourism industry from all continents who work in agencies, hotels, airlines, tourism centers and other tourism institutions took part in the vote. The reason for the repeated award cites the special architecture and spatial diversity of the house.
  • 2011: Award for excellent service at large conference events - International Association of Professional Congress Organizers (IAPCO)

Berlin vernacular

The ICC is the building with the most popular nicknames in Berlin . The spectrum ranges from “Spaceship”, “ Noah's Ark ” to “Battleship Charlottenburg” to “Alu-Monster”.

Art before construction

The monumental sculpture Ecbatane - man builds his city (1980) by the French artist Jean Ipoustéguy stood in front of the ICC on Neue Kantstrasse . The sculpture is the conversion of his forerunner sculpture, erected in 1979, Alexander the Great enters the conquered city of Ecbatane , which he enlarged on site and adapted to its Berlin location. It is a typical art subsidy within the framework of the “ Art in Building Ordinance”. Since the concrete base had become brittle, the sculpture was secured in the summer of 2005 and housed in a hall on the exhibition grounds.

Others

In the political and banking crime thriller The International , a scene takes place in the main hall, which can be recognized by the striking carpeting. The lower entrances to the parking garage and the taxi and bus stops, as well as the conspicuously orange-tiled pedestrian underpasses at the Messedamm / Masurenallee intersection have already been used several times as locations for films and videos. Scenes from the feature films Das Bourne Ultimatum , Wer ist Hanna? , The Hunger Games (Mockingjay Part 2) , The First Avenger (Civil War) and Atomic Blonde , the music videos Crush ( Paul van Dyk feat. Secon Sun), La Promesse ( Kate Ryan ), Around The World (ATC) and Nowhere to Hide (Leo Sagor & The FruitSenders), as well as the spot Gib Garbage a Reject! ( McDonald’s Germany). A poster for the Berlinale 2017 shows a brown bear in the ICC underpass. The opening sequence of the film Der Himmel über Berlin also prominently shows the ICC.

literature

Movies

  • A UFO waiting. What will happen to the ICC? Documentary, Germany, 2016, 44 min., Script and direction: Thomas Balzer and Georg Berger, production: rbb , first broadcast: May 24, 2016 on rbb, summary by rbb, video available online until May 24, 2017.
  • War of the Buildings. Competition of architects in divided Berlin. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 28:31 min., Script and director: Andreas Sawall, production: ZDF , first broadcast: November 2, 2014 on ZDF, table of contents with online video from ZDF; u. a. with Adrian von Buttlar .

Web links

Commons : Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Views

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sights. ICC - International Congress Center . berlin.de, November 24, 2015; accessed on June 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b The International Congress Center Berlin (ICC). (PDF) In: BauNetz-Woche # 280. July 27, 2012, p. 7 , accessed August 5, 2017 .
  3. ^ Andreas Wassermann: Systemkampf in Stein . In: Der Spiegel , Issue Series: History , No. 5, September 25, 2012, on the ICC: last three paragraphs.
  4. ↑ Ulrich Zawatka-Gerlach: CDU does not want to give up the ICC . In: Der Tagesspiegel , August 2, 2013.
  5. ^ Messe Berlin GmbH. ( Memento from June 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) berlin.de
  6. ↑ Cay Dobberke, Stefan Jacobs: 500 refugees move to the ICC on foot . In: Der Tagesspiegel , December 18, 2015.
  7. ↑ ICC is closed as the first point of contact. In: rbb-online.de. June 28, 2017. Retrieved August 5, 2017 .
  8. ↑ ICC from February again without refugees. (No longer available online.) In: rbb-online.de. October 13, 2016, archived from the original on November 27, 2016 ; accessed on August 5, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rbb-online.de
  9. ↑ Berlin places ICC under monument protection. At: rbb24 , September 3, 2019, accessed on September 4, 2019
  10. ↑ a b The International Congress Center Berlin (ICC). (PDF) In: BauNetz-Woche # 280. July 27, 2012, p. 10 , accessed August 5, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Andreas Jüttemann: The never completed subway to Theodor-Heuss-Platz . berlin.bahninfo.de, 2006; accessed on June 12, 2016.
  12. ↑ Brigitte Schmiemann: Senate resolution: Deutschlandhalle will be demolished, the ICC renovated . In: Die Welt , May 28, 2008.
  13. ↑ Alfons Frese: Berlin's distinctive fair boss Raimund Hosch: "The ICC does not rot." . In: Der Tagesspiegel , June 10, 2013, interview.
  14. ↑ a b ( page no longer available , search in web archives: The ICC Berlin at a glance. )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sevencenters.de
  15. ^ ICC Berlin . In: World Travel Award ; accessed on June 12, 2016.
  16. ^ World's Leading Conference & Convention Center 2009. In: World Travel Award ; accessed on June 12, 2016.
  17. ↑ ICC Berlin: Another international award for globally recognized service . In: Messe Berlin , March 7, 2011.
  18. ↑ International Congress Center (ICC), exhibition facilities, armored cruiser Charlottenburg . ( Memento from October 28, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ). In: berlin.cityseekr.com .