Quarters

A Metropolitan Business and Residential Neighborhood with View

HafenCity’s eye-catching eastern entrance, with its closeness to water and green Entenwerder Island, also make the neighborhood a very attractive place to live

Skyscrapers, water on three sides and the expansive new Chicago Square will be the essential elements of this future location for business and homes (© fotofrizz)

Elbbrücken quarter, named for this major River Elbe bridging point, will be HafenCity’s second urban center after Überseequarter. Spectacular high-rises, water surfaces on three sides and a large central plaza characterize this very dense­ly built business and residential location.

Three striking towers up to 150m high will be built next to the Elbbrücken bridg­es. Visible for miles around, they will mark the eastern entry point to HafenCity and the rest of the city, without detracting from Hamburg City’s silhouette. With up to 40 stories in each tower, buildings of comparable height anywhere else would spoil Hamburg’s famous outline of church spires. Large retail users will also be part of the Elbbrücken center.

CORPORATE EASTERN ENTRY TO HAFENCITY

In addition to the high-rise ensemble, several elongated block structures six to seven stories high will be built along Vers­mannstrasse. Fourteen-story stand-alone towers will form the built structure to the east in front of the Freihafen bridge crossing the Elbe and the rail tracks.

Overall large business enterprises could lend Elbbrücken extraordinary presence. But smaller and growing businesses will also benefit by relocating there. A broad spectrum of properties for businesses and great accessibility offer ideal conditions for dynamic urban and business growth.

AT HOME AT THE HEAD OF BAAKENHAFEN BASIN

To allow offices to be positioned so as to reduce noise, the eastern end of Baak­enhafen harbor basin will be partly filled in. This will allow buildings to be erected in a double row. Moving eastwards through the quarter, there is an increas­ ing concentration of retail, catering and particularly office and hotel uses. Higher commercial buildings will shelter inward-lying residential buildings. Despite the volume of traffic crossing bridges and using Versmannstrasse, this will create noise-protected zones ideal for homes. Almost 1,000 high quality apartments will be built here.

The neighborhood’s large square will become a metropolitan meeting place in eastern HafenCity. It will be built in the water of Baakenhafen harbor basin and bordered by buildings on three sides. Like the squares laid out in western HafenCity, this one, too, will extend toward the water on a variety of levels. Surrounding buildings will house many cafés, restaurants, bars and shops on their ground floors.

SUBWAY AND RAPID TRANSIT AT ELBBRÜCKEN

A water basin out of tidal range is planned for the eastern part of Baaken­hafen. This 7.6 hectare pool will resemble an artificial lake. Neighborhood users will experience proximity to the water much more intensely than elsewhere in Hafen­City. The embankment rim of the basin will also serve as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. An additional footbridge east of the Elbbrücken bridges will connect the neighborhood with Entenwerder Elbpark. The link will carry the European Elbe Cycle Route along the riverbank to HafenCity and northwards past Lohsepark through the Speicherstadt.

The goal is also, through the extension of the U4 subway line to its terminus at Elbbrücken, to connect it with the rapid transit rail network (S-Bahn). Urban planning development starts mainly from 2015 up to 2025, but primarily on conclusion of construction works in Baakenhafen quar­ter. Planning of main access roads, embankment zones and clearance of sites, as well as the Elbbrücken underground and rapid transit station, has begun, as have some building works. An urban planning competition for the neighborhood is to be launched in 2013.

 

Neighborhood profile

• Area: 21.4 hectares
  Total GFA: 560,000 sqm

• Jobs and commercial uses
  Jobs: approx. 13,000
  Uses: corporate, offices, services,
  hotel, retail, catering

• Homes
  1,000-plus

• Development timeframe
  2015 to 2025