Quarters

Great Location: Residential and Office Space on the Waterfront

Surrounded by water and parks, Strandkai offers spectacular views, incredible locations for homes and outstanding office buildings such as the Unilever headquarters

The first group of buildings in Strandkai - the Unilever hedquarters for German-speaking countries and the Marco Polo Tower residential block - is complete. They occupy an open area between the Elbe, the Marco Polo Terraces and the future Grasbrookpark (© ELBE&FLUT) Start slideshow

Strandkai quarter is already a conspicuous part of Hamburg’s southern city silhouette visible from the Elbe bridges. Its hybrid perimeter blocks are structured in six to seven-story building ensembles punctuated by high tower tops and individual towers, stand-alone or integrated. These high-points will provide far-reaching views downstream along the River Elbe, to the south across the port, to the north and west over Grasbrook harbor, HafenCity and the city center.

The urban design competition for the ten building plots was won by Böge Lindner architects (Hamburg). The south-eastern end of the neighborhood comprises mainly office space for modern service businesses. No homes will be built here because of proximity to the cruise terminal.

But residential units will be built at Grasbrookpark nearby. And the most enviable locations on the tip of the promontory are reserved almost exclusively for housing.

Outstanding sustainability

The first building on Strandkai, directly adjacent to the southernmost Marco Polo Terrace, is a prize-winning ensemble consisting of an office building and a residential tower. Both buildings were realized by Hochtief Projektentwicklung GmbH and designed by Behnisch architects (Stuttgart). The office building (59) has been in use since summer 2009 by consumer goods group Unilever with its headquarters for German-speaking countries; 1,200 employees now occupy 25,000 sqm GFA. The building’s ecological sustainability is impressive. For this reason, the Unilever building was awarded the gold HafenCity Ecolabel in 2011. It had already won the BEX award for particularly sustainable, innovative and efficient architecture in July 2009. In November 2009, at the World Architecture Awards in Barcelona, it was designated World’s Best Office Building. Recently the German architectural association (BDA) Hamburg awarded the Unilever building first prize for architecture of the construction years 2008-2010. It also won the readers’ prize from the Welt/Welt am Sonntag newspapers.

The interior of the Unilever office building impresses with an atrium, flooded with natural light, and open-plan offices with horizontally staggered work stations. An urban space with shops accessible to the public runs through the ground floor, linking the Marco Polo Terraces to the newly landscaped Elbe waterfront promenade. The Elbterrassen make a dramatic entrée to the riverfront.

Marco Polo Tower wins real estate “Oscar”

The Marco Polo Tower (58), with its 58 apartments, has also won several awards. In 2010, the residential tower won the real estate “Oscar”, the MIPIM award, in the residential developments category. The previous year it was named best building in the European Property Award. The whole ensemble is a landmark, with the 55m high tower and its staggered stories visible from far away. The western section of the promenade will be realized to link up with the high-rise building on the quay point.

Homes at the tip of the quay

The three plots at Strandkai (55-57) are planned for perimeter block building typologies, with two residential towers setting urban accents. A total of 430 units are to be built, offering sophisticated dwelling concepts. A children’s arts center is one of the uses planned for the ground floors, but there will be many other publicly accessible amenities so that Strandkai will be both a private place for residents as well as one that is particularly open both to Hamburgers and to visitors. Building works can get under way from 2013, with completion expected in 2014/15.

The eastern end of Strandkai, on the other hand, will be in use in 2012 for the temporary cruise terminal and for construction works connected with the new U4 subway. Although the temporary terminal will remain probably until 2015, one or two buildings will be erected to the west of the terminal so that, despite competition for site use, Strandkai too should be largely finished in 2015.