Berlin’s clubbing scene has long taken a creative approach to issues of space, setting events in former power stations, drained swimming pools and public toilets. Now its main airport is joining the list of alternative venues.
With Tegel airport set to close following the long-awaited opening of Berlin Brandenburg airport, currently scheduled for October 2020, plans are already being made for the next chapter in its history. Last month Berlin’s culture minister, Klaus Lederer, and Lutz Leichsenring of the Club Commission joined project planners for a tour of Tegel to imagine it reborn as a nightclub.
Tegel’s air traffic control towers, expansive hangar and soundproof jet engine testing hall were highlighted as potential spaces for a mixture of temporary and permanent music venues for open-air festivals, studios and clubs. The vision for Tegel also includes new housing and a tech hub.
“A whole new district of the city will be born,” says Daniel Bartsch, spokesman for Lederer. “I think Tegel will become a figurehead for the city’s modernity and diversity.”
Leichsenring was especially enthusiastic about the possibilities of a basement space he was shown complete with metal pipes, machinery and a readymade industrial aesthetic: “It reminded me of the space underneath the swimming pool in Stattbad Wedding, a former club in Berlin.”
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