Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin

Overview

Construction of ICC Berlin began in 1975 and it opened in 1979, three years after the opening of the Palace of the Republic. The architects were Ursulina Schüler-Witte and Ralf Schüler. The conference center is 313 m long, 80 m wide and 40 m tall.

The building has an aluminum facade and was designed to accommodate over 20,000 participants in any major conference. The conference center has 80 conference rooms of varying size, the largest conference room being 6,000 square meters. The main auditorium was planned for 5,000 people. Hall 2 could accommodate around 4,000 visitors. The commission was for a infrastructure project that was supposed to impress. So the participants of a conference could talk into a microphone from any seat. The staircases and foyers were intentionally futuristic, with geometric Op Art carpets for visitors to walk on and an innovative guidance system consisting of red and blue fluorescent tubes.

The facility does not have its own campus and is linked to the neighboring Messe Berlin fairgrounds, so conferences often joined trade shows and exhibitions.

It was one of Europe's biggest conference centers, at a time when Berlin was one of the top congress cities in the world. It is serviced by S-Bahn station Berlin Messe Nord/ICC. By its own reckoning, ICC Berlin is a landmark of post-war German architecture and has served as an inspiration for similar facilities around the globe.

Asbestos

In April 2014, the ICC was closed in order to remove asbestos contamination. Its removal will cost much more than the originally planned €259 million.

In popular culture

The ICC features prominently in the 1980 disco musical The Apple, in which it appears as a futuristic concert venue. Many of the film's exterior and interior scenes were filmed in and around the building.

The American rock band Grateful Dead played two concerts in the main hall at the ICC as part of their Europe tour in 1990. The concerts were on 19 and 20 October.

The 2009 film The International was partly filmed in the interior of the ICC.

The pedestrian tunnel was used as a set for popular dance track "Around the World (La La La La La)" by German Eurodance group ATC in 1999.

It appears in Wim Wenders' 1987 film Wings of Desire.

References

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150801160723/http://www.messe-berlin.de/en/ExtraPages/ICCBerlin.html Messe-Berlin.com: ICC]
2. . (2021). ["The Sun Machine Is Coming Down"](https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/berliner-festspiele/programm/the-sun-machine-is-coming-down/termine.html). *Berliner Festspiele*.
3. (2021). "The Sun Machine Is Coming Down: Art at the ICC". Gallery Weekend Berlin.
4. "ICC - Internationales Congress Centrum Berlin". Visit Berlin.
5. (20 February 2025). "The incredible £800m abandoned 'spaceship' that's one of Europe's largest buildings". The Express.
6. (17 September 2009). "Asbest im ganzen ICC Sanierung erheblich teurer". Berliner Morgenpost.
7. (12 May 2010). "ICC Sanierung deutlich teurer als geplant". Berliner Morgenpost.
8. "The Apple Movie Filming Locations". Fast Rewind.
9. "Grateful Dead Live at Internationales Congress Centrum on 1990-10-19".
10. "Wings of Desire (Der Himmel Über Berlin) 1987". Movie Locations.