Congress Center Hamburg (CCH; formerly Congress Centrum Hamburg) is a convention center in Hamburg, Germany, located right next to Planten un Blomen, near the Hamburg Dammtor station. It opened on 14 April 1973 as the first of its kind in Germany. Since then, it has undergone multiple expansions and renovations, including a complete overhaul in 2017. In addition to conventions, it also hosts concerts, and has attracted artists such as Queen and ABBA. It has an attached hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel Hamburg.
The CCH was the first convention center in Germany. The government of Hamburg, including then-mayor Herbert Weichmann planned the center to promote tourism, being designed to attract the then-new demographic of convention-goers.[1] It was initially planned to be built in the Karolinenviertel neighbourhood, but this was rejected as it would lead to the destruction of extant buildings; instead, it was built in Planten un Blomen.[2] The opening ceremony took place on 14 April 1973 with 3000 attendees, but the operators of the speaker system were absent, leading to "two hours of noise".[1][3] The original design was criticised as a "bunker", but its relative lack of windows was liked by military representatives during the Cold War as they were afraid of spies.[1]
After the building was opened, it was expanded multiple times to increase its capacity.[4] Initially, this was controversial as the space intruded on the adjacent park.[1] In 2000, the foyer and restaurant annex was overhauled, and in 2006, Hall H was opened, adding a roof garden to the complex.[4][5][6]
A contest to overhaul the CCH was undertaken in 2014, which was won by Tim Hupe Architects; it was initially projected to cost 194 million euros.[4][7] In 2017, it was discovered that the center was contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and asbestos, necessitating further work.[8] The renovation involved adding capacity to the building and overhauling much of the rooms.[4] Although many parts were completely renovated, the heritage-listed brick walls of the main theater and aluminium "jug lights" were retained. The old foyer was replaced with a new multi-storey one with large glass windows that contains the largest pendant light in the world.[4][9] A passage was added parallel to the halls to allow different users to occupy them concurrently.[7] The renovated center opened in 2022, at an increased cost of 297 million euros, caused by the asbestos contamination and COVID-19 pandemic.[7][10]
In addition to trade congresses and conventions, it has also hosted concerts by Queen, ABBA, Hans Zimmer, and Deep Purple. Udo Jürgens had a bathtub installed in one of the cloakrooms, as he did not like showering.[1][4][9]
The building has a total capacity of 105,000 square metres (126,000sqyd), has over 50 rooms, and accommodates up to 12,000 people.[4][10] The perennial roof garden on the top of Hall H is the largest in Europe.[7]
↑ "Der lange weg in die krise". Die Neue Heimat(PDF). Materialien für die politische Bildung und die Demokratiebildung (in German). Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg. 9 July 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
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