An industrial white cube built for events

Today the operators market the Tempelhof hangars as some of Berlin's most striking event spaces, and Hangar 5 fits the brief with a flexible floor of 3,512 m² that can hold up to roughly 2,200 people. Alongside the main hall are several smaller adjoining showrooms, so the hangar can host a single sweeping exhibition or be partitioned into focused zones for presentations, product launches, trade fairs and concerts. The signature feature for visitors remains the open, hangar-gate architecture: at up to 16–18 metres high, with doors that roll back to the apron, the interior draws in daylight and frames a very particular atmosphere that ties history and modern events together.↗↗

What's on when you visit

For most travellers the reason to set foot inside Hangar 5 is POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, the official contemporary art fair of Berlin Art Week, which stages its autumn edition across Hangars 5 and 6. Around 90 international galleries fill more than 10,000 m² with painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, installation and new media, alongside curated special sections, artist talks, panel discussions, an emerging-artists prize and the Berlin Art Week Collectors Dinner. The 2025 edition drew over 30,000 visitors, and the high, well-lit halls are repeatedly praised as a surprisingly good foil for large-format work.↗

Beyond the art fair, the hangar has a genuine performance pedigree. In 2017 it became the second stage of the Volksbühne theatre under then-director Chris Dercon, who commissioned the award-winning architect Francis Kéré to design a round, amphitheatre-like mobile stage in wood and fabric for up to 400 spectators — inaugurated with a world premiere by French choreographer Boris Charmatz. That experiment in spreading theatre across the city put Hangar 5 on the cultural map, and the wider Tempelhof site continues to host concerts, exhibitions and guided heritage tours.↗↗↗

Visiting the hangars and the wider Tempelhof site

Hangar 5 is not a stand-alone attraction you can wander into on any day: access is through a specific ticketed event, most reliably during the POSITIONS fair in mid-September, so it is worth planning your visit around the programme rather than simply turning up. When you do, treat it as part of a larger half-day at Tempelhof — the visitor centre, the airport's history and architecture tours, and the open expanse of Tempelhofer Feld are all on the same historic ground, and the U-Bahn station at Platz der Luftbrücke drops you almost at the door.↗↗

For visitors with mobility needs, the venue lists a wheelchair-accessible entrance and accessible restroom, and the hangars' single-storey, open-plan layouts generally make the big halls easier to move through than multi-level city galleries. As an event space, what you actually experience — opening hours, facilities and crowd — depends entirely on the show in town, so check the operator's event calendar for dates and ticketing before you go.

Highlights

The cavernous, daylight-flooded arc hangar, with ceilings up to 16–18 m and rolling gates onto the old apron — part airport relic, part exhibition hall.↗↗

POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair each September, the contemporary art fair of Berlin Art Week, staged across Hangars 5 and 6 with around 90 galleries and 30,000+ visitors.↗

A real performance home: Francis Kéré's 2017 mobile wooden amphitheatre for the Volksbühne, and a steady run of concerts, launches and trade fairs.↗

Set inside a listed landmark — Ernst Sagebiel's monumental Tempelhof terminal, the former centre of the Berlin Airlift — alongside Tempelhofer Feld park.↗

Practical tips

Time your trip to a scheduled event. Hangar 5 opens to the public through bookings such as the POSITIONS art fair (typically mid-September); look up the THF programme or the specific event's site for exact dates and tickets.↗

Reach it by public transport: U6 to Platz der Luftbrücke is a short walk, or S+U Tempelhof is around ten minutes on foot. Parking on the field is limited, so transit is the easy option.↗

At POSITIONS expect a day ticket around €25, with reduced rates (about €15) for students and pass holders and free entry for children under 12; a preview day is usually held for collectors and press.↗

Pair your visit with Tempelhofer Feld: once the event is done, the adjoining former airfield is one of Berlin's most open public spaces, and the visitor centre and heritage tours explore the airport's layered history.↗↗

Dress for a big hall — high, open hangar interiors can feel cool and echoey, and you may be on your feet covering a lot of floor, so comfortable walking shoes are a good call.