Elbberg Campus Altona
Office buildingElbberg is a street in the southern section of Altona, a large district in western Hamburg that once belonged to Denmark. It traverses a steep hill, ergo the nickname “Berg”, the German word for mountain, and is one of the few roads that connect the lower-lying port area with Altona’s well-developed centre situated above.
The bottom of the ascending street joins with Grosse Elbstrasse, a busy thoroughfare along the Elbe river that houses the Fish Market, warehouses, industrial buildings and many popular restaurants. A green zone is located at the northern end of the slope, the Elbhang. It forms the backdrop for the property. The present situation at the base of this zone consists of various buildings which are utilised commercially.
The approach being taken for new development is based on the remains of what still stands: buildings containing offices and lofts are being erected here in a newly designed park-like area aligned to the contours of the slope. As was already the case with Lofthaus am Elbberg (1997 Building of the Year) that borders to the east, here too the four points of the compass, the topography and the immediately abutting greenery equally represent the emphases for primary thought given to the draft for this site.
The area under development is going to be expanded beyond the Altonaer Balkon, a public-access terrace at the top, all the way down to the harbour through the addition of new walkways, public stairways and more terraces.
The office building on Grosse Elbstrasse is integrated into this concept, too. Together with a markedly prominent ‘head-like’ construction at the top, the roof level of the pedestal-like base structure forms a new public plaza, a spacious terrace that allows a view reaching far across the port.
In terms of the complex as a whole, the aim is to combine working, living and leisure time along the banks of the Elbe. Private and public sectors are effectively articulated on the one hand, and spatially interwoven in a harmonious fashion on the other with the help of architectural and landscape-planning design.
»The building resembles a container ship in homage to the industrial charm of the harbor. «
What’s more, the complex assumes a bridging function between Altona and the Elbe. In deliberate association with Blankenese, another district along the Elbe on Hamburg’s western border famous for its even steeper slope filled with small houses interlaced with stairways and landings, the Elbberg Campus thus represents an elemental building block in the planned restructuring of the Elbe riverbank into a multifunctional development site.
»Although our task is to respond to the history of the site, this should not translate into currying favor in a sentimental or historicizing manner. «Hadi Teherani
Project Factsheet
Bauwerk des Jahres 2003, AIV Architekten- und Ingenieurverein Hamburg e.V.
Michael Holzberger, Marie-Louise Seifert, Peter Olbert, Maurice Paulussen, Alexander Maul
