In Berlin, there is movement in the discussion about the future of one of the largest vacant properties in the country, the International Congress Center ICC in the west of the city.

The building, constructed in the style of expressive machine modernism, was opened in 1979 and, thanks to its outstanding architecture, is now a listed building, but it has also been empty for years and would have to be renovated for a good 200 million euros.

What could be possible at this location became apparent last year when the Berliner Festspiele revived the ICC for a few days with performances, dance and music projects, and film screenings.

Thousands of visitors came, the spaceship-like atmosphere in the 28,000 square meter giant building was incomparable.

Wouldn't that be the place of culture that Berlin needed - and that Berlin's cultural scene, with which the city likes to advertise, has been demanding for a long time?

She finds less and less space to produce and show art, while the senate under former mayor Müller (SPD) caused displeasure with a haphazard funding policy and sunk six-figure sums into dubious private exhibition projects in the empty halls of Tempelhof.

This is what places where society meets could look like

Berlin's independent Senator for Economics, Stephan Schwarz, is now taking a different, more promising approach to promoting local culture: he has launched a competition for the conversion of the ICC into a "modern art and culture center with flexible space that can also be used for congresses and conferences if necessary".

The winner is to receive a heritable building right for 99 years;

he also has to take over the renovation, the state makes concessions "in terms of price or structural requirements".

The future ICC should be open to the public, ideally day and night, Schwarz said at the press conference.

Berlin's Mayor Franziska Giffey explained that a possible model is the Center Pompidou in Paris - a place of education where culture is produced and shown, but also a meeting place for the city's society.

With a clever redesign, the ICC could become a model for the resource-saving conversion of large vacant areas - and show what the places look like where a society meets less in the office and when shopping because of home office and online shopping.

Measured against what the city has planned for the ICC so far - demolition, showroom for electromobility, drone airport - the current announcement is a liberating blow.

The major cultural building projects of recent years, which are currently shaping Berlin's image, are a replica palace and a twentieth-century museum.

The ICC that Schwarz wants could become the cultural building where Berlin's present finds a place.