Quarters

From Local Industrial Pioneers to Green Urban Quarter

Historic industrial and railroad facilities characterize the neighborhood. Lohsepark is becoming HafenCity’s “Central Park”

Aerial photograph of the site today: the area of the future Lohsepark is still being used by a logistics company and for infrastructure building works (© ELBE&FLUT) Start slideshow

Edged by water surfaces to the north and south, an attractive urban space is emerging in central HafenCity – at its heart its green core, Lohsepark. Since all of the buildings adjoin the green space to the west and east, this continues Ham­burg’s town planning tradition of plant­ing large parks amid residential and working neighborhoods. Development of the neighborhood started from the partially listed red-brick ensemble on Lohseplatz which houses, for example, the Prototyp private collec­tion of automobiles. This beautifully renovated architectural gem was once the corporate headquarters of Harburger Gummi-Kamm-Compagnie, a pioneer of Hamburg industrialization. . The ensemble will be joined by three new build­ings (67-69).

Family homes on the park

Am Lohsepark will be a lively part of HafenCity, full of variety. Around 40,000 sqm gross floor area (GFA), will be built from 2013 between Shanghaiallee and Yokohamastrasse, on a large block, or “quarree”, offering an urban assortment of around 300 rented, subsidized, jointly developed and privately owned homes. All the corresponding architectural com­petitions have already been decided and building permits applied for. On the northern plot (70), a residential block is being built by two HafenCity pioneers, the cooperative housing corporation Berge­dorf-Bille and builder Otto Wulff to designs by Architekten APB and Böge Lindner K2 (Hamburg) with Haslob Kruse + Partner (Bremen). Plans foresee mainly subsidized and privately financed rental homes, cooperative rental units, subsidized cooperative units but also privately owned apartments. Supportive living concepts for people with and without disabilities will also be real­ized in cooperation with Leben mit Behinderung/Wahlheimat Hamburg. Rounding off the project will be two kin­dergartens, a medical center, additional commercial spaces and a meeting place for the community.

On the neighboring plot (71), another residential block is being built by a con­sortium (four joint building ventures made up of some 75 individual owner-builders), supervised by Stattbau Ham­burg and Conplan GmbH, with Hamburg residential construction company Behrendt Woh­nungsbau and Frank Heimbau Nord. This residential ensemble, designed by Dinse Feest Zurl (Hamburg), Springer (Berlin) and Siebrecht Münzesheimer/BOF (Hamburg), will include both privately owned apartments and joint-venture units to purchase, as well as subsidized units at affordable rents. Also planned are varied commercial uses for ground floors, another daycare center for chil­dren and public amenities. The project is named Green Belt House which will be mirrored in its inner courtyard landscap­ing (visible from outside), the ecological construction techniques deployed and its urban roof-top gardens.

The corner plot (72) to the south on Übersee­allee, also lying west of the park, is being developed for residential and hotel uses, plus publicly accessible ground floor space. More apartments could also be built on the side of the building facing onto the park and side road,  including subsidized student accom­modation. Overall, the 3,750 sqm plot will be developed by 2015 to provide a total 17,000 sqm GFA. Plot 66 has also been offered for sale by the Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben (federal agency for sale and management of public real estate). Formerly a customs service site, it could be built with around 9,000 sqm GFA for mixed uses and a residential component.

East of Lohsepark, a gymnasium sec­ondary school, which will also function as a community center, is to be built from 2015/16. In addition, further residential units are planned to round off the block next to the Prototyp automobile museum, as well as to the east of the park. The fundamental pattern in this neighborhood is of block structures of six to seven stories, to be grouped around centrally sited Lohsepark.

HafenCity's largest park

The new four-hectare Lohsepark, HafenCity’s “Central Park”, will run like a long green ribbon from Ericusgraben in the north to the southern neighborhood of Baakenhafen, where it connects up with the broad 30m Elbe promenade. An international competition for landscap­ing of the park was held in 2010. A con­vincing concept entered by Vogt Land­schaftsarchitekten AG (Zurich) projecting the park as a place for movement “from edge to edge (of built-up areas)” and “from water body to water body”, was the winner. Curving paths lead through expanses of lawn and longer grass with more than 500 trees. Park benches and water features invite passersby to stop a while, as does a community house with a children’s play area. On the longer sides of the park, terraces open out to the street, allowing an unobstructed interflow between the park and its urban sur­roundings. The layout of Lohsepark is staggered on three levels – respectively at 5.5, 6.5 and 8m above sea-level.

School students took part in a workshop to discuss the park’s development. For Grasbrookpark, too, a school students’ committee in the form of a future workshop was active in looking at the needs of children and teenagers with regard to public open space. During lively discussions, their ideas were collated, debated and supervised in the realization phase through to completion.