Oberhafen neighborhood

South of Oberhafen harbor basin, a lasting and yet dynamic creative and cultural quarter is to develop. What is special about it? Development will focus exclusively on existing warehouse buildings. Sports facilities will be realized right by the water

(© ELBE&FLUT) Start slideshow

Today the area is still dedicated as a rail depot, lacking flood protection and dominated largely by logistics activities, at least until 2014. But the future looks quite different, for Oberhafen is destined to become the nucleus of a large creative and cultural neighborhood – not a commercial and industrial site as originally planned.

The basic concept for Oberhafen neighborhood: in the medium term it is to develop into a permanent creative and cultural quarter, publicly accessible, centrally located in Hamburg. It will have close connections to the other HafenCity neighborhoods, as well as with Rothenburgsort, City Süd and newly developing cultural activities, as well as with the Hamburg "museum mile". At the same time, the presence of older warehouse buildings will help to establish a spatial urban identity.

Here, the conventional HafenCity development process has been turned on its head, since, instead of an urban concept being the objective of development, the process strategy is focused on finding new uses and a conceptual design for the inventory of existing buildings. Additional stories will be built on top of the mostly single-story sheds and then a gradual development of the site will be considered. The plots will not be sold, but remain the permanent property of the Special Fund for City and Port (HafenCity Hamburg GmbH) so as to retain control for Hamburg over the development.

Lengthy storage buildings and multi-story frontage buildings are the main features of Oberhafen neighborhood at the moment. The sheds and office space, primarily used by rail operator Deutsche Bahn, comprise around 21,000 sq. m gross floor area (GFA). Converting these buildings into creative and cultural spaces will lend them a very public character. Change of use permits will be needed, however, if homes are to be integrated, as the buildings were not so far used as working places or for housing. The project will also involve considerable expense on modernization, as well as measures to include the area in the flood-protection zone.

In the medium term, new builds will be added to the existing buildings. Private or cooperative investment in new low-budget buildings could be possible if the buildings are used for cultural and creative purposes and are sublet at affordable rents.

Both new and old buildings are to be made available to their users at reasonable prices. The mix of old and new could create around 1,500 jobs in Oberhafen neighborhood. The majority of the existing sites in Oberhafen are leased for logistics activities until the end of 2013. In addition the whole area is designated as a railroad depot until 2014/15. This means that, after its release from railroad use, the new quarter cannot be intensively developed and adopted for new uses until 2015.

A few small uses already fit into the category of "creative industry", potentially forming the basis for a permanent creative milieu in Oberhafen that could later also spill over into the Central Wholesale Market site to the east. In the meantime, additional creative and cultural uses should be established partially.

A detailed concept for the project will be worked out through an intense dialog over the next few years. This would be based on a development time-frame of around 15 years. Throughout the development phase, HafenCity Hamburg GmbH will be cooperating closely with Hamburg Kreativ GmbH. The latter was founded to promote the young art and cultural landscape and is based in the new Elbtorquartier. At the same time, energetic exchanges of ideas are taking place with creative enterprises and many other creative individuals.

Despite the fact that creative and cultural uses will clearly dominate in Oberhafen, the neighborhood also offers opportunities for a range of sport and leisure activities to take place in undeveloped areas. The revised Masterplan foresees using these spaces for the sports facilities that could not be fitted into Lohsepark because of the Hanover Railroad Station memorial.

Instead, extensive facilities for all kinds of sports will be developed from 2014/15, including a football ground on the waterside. The new recreational options will be available to all residents, employees and visitors to HafenCity and to sports clubs. The second primary and secondary schools planned for the south-eastern frontage of Lohsepark will also be able to make use of these fields for school sports.

A new tunnel will make the neighborhood more quickly accessible from 2015, at the earliest. The tunnel, leading under the rail embankment, will open out directly in front of the north-east exit of the new HafenCity University subway station, connecting users in Oberhafen neighborhood directly with the U4 line.