14th floor in the Conti high-rise building

© Matthias Kothe

One of the elevators in the lobby takes you up to the top floor of the high-rise building on the Conti Campus at Königsworther Platz. The space on the 14th floor, which was used as a cafeteria until just a few years ago, is currently closed, but the hallway outside offers spectacular views both in and out!

High above the rooftops of Hanover

On a clear day, the view to the west stretches over the hills of Linden, Gehrden, and Benthe all the way to the Deister mountain range, and from the window facing the opposite direction, it takes in Hannover’s Nordstadt and Oststadt neighborhoods all the way to the 282-meter-high Telemax telecommunications tower at the Medical University. As you descend the stairs to the ground floor, the impressive main building of the nearby Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University and the Herrenhausen Gardens also come into view. You can’t get a better sunset than this!

From Administrative Headquarters to University Campus

The builders of the Conti skyscraper already had their sights set high: when the building was constructed in 1952–53 based on designs by Hanover architecture professor Ernst Zinsser and Werner Dierschke, head of the city’s building authority, its 65 meters made it the tallest in the young Federal Republic of Germany. At that time, the high-rise—with its executive wing and curved roof over the entrance area on Königsworther Platz—served as the headquarters of Continental AG. In the early 1990s, the corporate headquarters of the world-renowned tire manufacturer moved from Hanover to Vahrenwalder Straße, and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hanover took over the building complex. Since 1995, the Conti Campus has housed the departments of Law, Economics, and Languages and Literature, which are spread across the many floors of the Conti high-rise. The former data center of Continental AG was converted into libraries for the departments, and the former garages on Schloßwender Straße were redesigned and expanded to become the Contine campus cafeteria. The inner courtyard has also been beautified and, with its many benches and tables on the green lawn and under the shady trees, invites students to take a break between lectures.

When the lobby of the Conti Tower becomes a cultural stage

About 30 times a year, the Literary Salon—the forum for culture, media, and society at Leibniz University Hannover—holds events in the foyer of the Conti Tower. After the summer break, the public event series kicks off the upcoming program season with an event as part of the Lower Saxony Literature Festival: on September 12, 2018, starting at 8:00 p.m., Mexican author and President of PEN International Jennifer Clement will present her novel “Gun Love.” Actress Lisa Natalie Arnold will read from the German translation of the novel, and Hanover-based American studies scholar Ruth Mayer will lead a discussion with the author following the reading.

Anyone who would like to enjoy the panoramic sunrises and sunsets over Hanover and the surrounding region before, during, or after lectures and events at the Conti-Haus should also keep the building’s hours of operation in mind: Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.