90 minutes ICC

An outside view on the ICC just after sunset. In the background, the West Berlin TV Tower pretends to be the Eiffel tower.
Joram Schwartzmann

Some time in September of 2025, we had 90 minutes to see the ICC in Berlin for the last time.

The ICC is a wonderful building full of retrofuturistic style and crazy engineering – the old antithesis to modern boxes made from glass and steel. The ICC is all rounded, with odd angles and pill-shaped windows, the rooms are scattered like a maze. The areas with natural light are cast in beautiful patterns while many areas have never seen any daylight whatsoever. The ICC is enormous and cozy, vast and narrow, modern and dated. I wouldn't have expected to ever enjoy a congress center. 

I hope they won't mess it up.

A registration counter with an old flip display reading 'Registrierungscounter'
An architectural shot of an empty corner of the ICC with natural light casting bright areas onto the walls.
An architectural shot of an empty corner of the ICC with no windows and no people..
An architectural shot of an empty corner of the ICC with a closed door that has a massive X taped across..
An old escalator emergency stop button, labelled 'Nothalt 069'
The anouncement signs in the entrance of the ICC with the entrance numbers 1, 3 and 5.
An architectural shot of an empty corner of the ICC with an old neon sign indicating the location of some meeting rooms.
A colourful long exposure of a big room with silhouettes of people and a bright red light being cast in the center.
A blue and pink shot of massive chains ready to hoist up and entire seating section in the ICC.
Three old bone shaped neon signs mounted at the ceiling in the ICC, casting a red light on their surroundins.

This article was updated on 22.9.2025