Berlin techno club adds art centre to its offerings

Local entrepreneur Dimitri Hegemann plans to turn the building that houses his infamous 1980s techno club, Tresor, into a gigantic centre for arts and culture, while keeping the club in the basement. He says it will cost e3.6m to renovate 22,000 sq. m of space in the former BKW (Berlin power station) to house anything from a permanent art collection to a bookstore, a 24/7 meditation room, a Japanese garden as well as music festivals or fashion events. He says there is already interest in the BKW from artists such as Michael Ballhaus, Matthew Barney and Laurie Anderson. The Alfred Herrhausen Society, one of Deutsche Bank’s foundations, and the Berlin Philharmonic are also considering using it. However, no date is set to complete the renovation.