Berliner Congress Center BCC - Congress Hall, House of Teacher

image author: Gisela Pape


One of the most impressively rebuilt building ensembles of the early sixties in Berlin is the Congress Hall and the 'House of Teachers' at the eastern fringe of the Alexanderplatz in the centre of East Berlin.

The Congress Hall and the 'House of Teacher', today's Berliner Congress Center, BCC, developed into a popular event place thanks to its extraordinary architecture and central location.

Address:

bcc Berliner Congress Center GmbH
Alexanderplatz 3
10178 Berlin

+49 (30) 23 806 750
Fax: +49 (30) 23 806 834

www.bcc-berlin.de

Transport Links:
S5, S7, S75, S9
U2, U5, U8
M4, M5, M6
100, 200, 148, TXL

image author: Gisela Pape


 The house of teacher was once the first newly built high rise building at the Alexander Square after the 2nd World War. It was, together with the corresponding congress hall, built 1961-64 after plans by the DDR architects Professor Hermann Henselmann, Bernhard Geyer and Jörg Steitparth in place of the destroyed teacher clubhouse. This had been built in the year 1908 by progressive teachers with self-raised funds with hall, offices and library. The building ensemble built in the international modernity style, situated directly at the Karl-Marx-Allee was the prelude to modernisation and fundamentally reconstruction of the Alexander Square and the eastern city centre towards a modern capital at DDR times.

 The ensemble, cupola building and high-rise building, which is under monumental protection has been extensively redeveloped and modernised for 15 million Euro under the control of the young Berliner architect Kerk-Oliver Dahm. The ornaments at the cupola building and the spiral staircase in the foyer have been true to the original restored and the aluminium casing of the congress hall's roof shines in new splendour. Transparency is being communicated by the foyer, which is glassed up to the base.


 Special attention was given to the restoring and recreation of the house of teacher's emblem, the 125m long and 7m wide picture mosaic, which is under monumental protection by the artist Professor Walter Womacka, that encompasses the house like a abdominal belt and is meant to depict the every day school day in the former DDR.