This competition was about creating a building concept for the area of the newly created HafenCity University as a university of architecture and spatial development in Hamburg. The site to be built on is extremely present on the waterfront of Europe’s largest urban development project.
The aim was to develop an overall ensemble that would give the HafenCity Hamburg area a representative face from the water. The main focus of the planning was the organization of the new HCU.
We developed a structure that is oriented to the given urban master plan, while at the same time recognizing itself as a separate entity. In terms of urban planning, the development functions as both the starting and the end point of the “New Axis East” and is organized like a city in its own right. The large foyer in the heart of the university forms the center of a large network that interconnects lecture halls, thinking rooms, refectory, library and all other areas, thus promoting communication and interaction among users. Expressive shapes and colors allow the building with its distinctive tower to radiate far into the harbor and strengthen the place and its significance both for science and for the general public.
