Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service
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Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service | |
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Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienstes | |
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Office |
Architectural style | International Style |
Address | Chausseestraße96,Mitte,10115 |
Town or city | Berlin |
Country | Germany |
Coordinates | 52°32′02″N13°22′36″E/ 52.533889°N 13.376667°E |
Current tenants | Federal Intelligence Service(BND) |
Construction started | 2006 |
Topped-out | March 2010 |
Completed | November 2016 |
Opened | 2017 |
Cost | €1.086 billion |
Client | Institute for Federal Real Estate |
Owner | Germany |
Technical details | |
Floor count | Nine stories above ground |
Floor area | 260,000 square metres (2,800,000 sq ft) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Jan Kleihues |
Architecture firm | Kleihues + Kleihues |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 5,000+ |
Public transit access | Schwartzkopffstraße |
TheHeadquarters of the Federal Intelligence Serviceor theBND Headquarters(‹See Tfd›German:Zentrale des Bundesnachrichtendienstes,colloquially theBND-Zentrale) is the headquarters of theFederal Intelligence Service(BND) ofGermany,and is located at theChausseestraßein theMittedistrict in the centre ofBerlin.The building that houses its headquarters is the world's largest intelligence building, somewhat larger than theCIA headquarters at Langley.[1]
History
[edit]The complex was designed by the architect firm Kleihues + Kleihues. Construction started in 2006 and was completed in 2017. With 260,000 m2(2.8 million ft²), it is the world's largest intelligence headquarters, somewhat bigger than theCIA headquarters at Langley,and around 4,000 people work there. It is also Berlin's second largest building, afterBerlin Tempelhof Airport.[2]The first employees moved into the new complex in late 2017; the relocation from the former headquarters inPullachwas completed in the autumn of 2018.[3]
The headquarters is located near the former trace of theBerlin Wall,on the eastern side, some 350 meters (1150 ft) from the canal which marked the border toWest Berlinduring theCold War,and directly adjacent to the formerChausseestraße crossing point.The headquarters are built on the site of the former stadiumStadion der Weltjugend.
Following the decision to build the new BND headquarters there, a massiveurban renewalhas taken place in the neighbourhood, with many new construction projects opposite the BND headquarters, including high-end apartment buildings, a new park, the Café Top Secret, a new hotel, and buildings housing office spaces and retail stores.[4]
The headquarters includes avisitor centerthat is open to the public; it is the first intelligence organisation to have such a center.[5]
Although completed in 2017, the official opening was held in February 2019.Angela Merkel,Chancellor of Germanyattended and made this statement: "In an often very confusing world, now, more urgently than ever, Germany needs a strong and efficient foreign intelligence service". At the time, some 4,000 employees were expected to work from this location, moving here from the former headquarters in a suburb ofMunich.The agency's total number of employees, in Germany and other countries, was approximately 6,500.[6][7]
References
[edit]- ^"World's biggest intelligence headquarters opens in Berlin".The Guardian.8 February 2019.
- ^BND-Zentrale: 3200 Agenten arbeiten in der neuen Geheimdienstburg an der Chausseestraße
- ^Jansen, Frank (27 October 2017)."Die Spione kommen nach Berlin".Der Tagesspiegel Online– via Tagesspiegel.
- ^Luig, Judith (20 October 2013)."Mein Nachbar, der Spion – Wie der BND Mitte verändert".
- ^Nachrichten, n-tv."In der neuen BND-Zentrale in Berlin".
- ^"World's biggest intelligence headquarters opens in Berlin".the Guardian.2019-02-08.Retrieved2022-11-18.
- ^Schuetze, Christopher F. (2019-02-09)."Germany Opens Massive Intelligence Complex (Maybe the World's Largest) in Berlin".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2022-11-18.