• Office Building Hamburg-Neumühlen

Office Building Hamburg-Neumühlen

The “string of pearls” made up of four equivalent office buildings on the banks of the Elbe in Hamburg form an extension of the city with a representative façade at the edge of the harbour. As an interpretation of the prescribed open courtyard structure, the building was designed with the greatest possible degree of transparency; this broke up the urban configuration and maintained the lines of sight between the harbour and the sloping banks of the Elbe behind it. Formally, the building is reduced to three elements: floor, ceiling and a transparent building envelope, which widens at places into a walkable space. The two equivalent office blocks stand adjacent to each other, connected on the ground floor through conference and meeting rooms and a transparent perpendicular structure containing three vertical sculptural elements with a translucent textile envelope that appears to immaterialize itself with various lighting effects.
Location Neumühlen 13-15, 22763 Hamburg
Year 1. Prize Competition 1996, Completion 2002
Client Herrmann Ebel und Frank Leonhardt, Schifffahrtskontor Elbe, Hamburg

Team Kai Hansen, Florian Fels, Volker Raatz, Jacob van Ommen

Technical planners Ingenieurbüro Dr. Binnewies, Hamburg (structural engineering) – Büro freier Ingenieure Ansorg + Horn, Berlin-Weißensee (building services) – Ludwig & Meyer, Berlin GbR (façade consulting) – Prof. Dr. Hansjürg Leibundgut, Zürich

Photos Oliver Heissner, Werner Huthmacher