BSU Hamburg in Germany by Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Article source: NBK Keramik GmbH

The second largest city in Germany is often referred to as the “gateway to the world”. The Free and Hanseatic City has the largest and most important commercial port in the country and acts as a transport hub for ships from all over the world. Important sea routes to the North and East open out from Hamburg, and major import and export companies, forwarding and shipping companies are based here.

The city on the river Elbe with its green areas and bodies of water, its architecturally impressive cityscape and its Hanseatic flair is also one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. A lively art and cultural scene, shopping and entertainment districts and not least the lively, cosmopolitan atmosphere explain its appeal. And Hamburg is growing – for years its population has been on the rise, and the forecasts suggest a further increase, which needs to be reflected in the city’s building and transport infrastructure.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

• Architects: Sauerbruch Hutton architects
• Project: BSU Hamburg
• Location: Hamburg, Germany

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg, a previously rather neglected part of the major city in terms of development, has recently attracted the attention of city planners. Wilhelmsburg is part of Hamburg “Mitte” (the central district), but is surrounded by the Northern and Southern Elbe, so it is separated from the city centre by the arms of the Elbe. In the past, its island location gave the quarter an “outsider role”. With inadequate transport links to the city centre, long ignored in terms of home building and landscape planning, and faced with a lot of social problems, Wilhelmsburg was previously perceived by many as rather unattractive.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

But that is set to change now. Going by the motto “hop over the Elbe”, a comprehensive urban construction concept was created, which develops forwardlooking options for the river island in order to increase its appeal on a lasting basis. Wilhelmsburg certainly has a lot of potential. Situated at the heart of the city, Hamburg’s largest district has plenty of space – vast brownfield sites are available for building homes and businesses, port facilities and commercial and industrial areas near water can be used for new development projects, a wide range of housing, green spaces and nature reserves with high recreational value offer excellent conditions for an attractive urban quarter. For several years, Wilhelmsburg has seen a gradual change from the former “back yard” of Hamburg to an appealing place to live, work and spend free time. An overall concept consisting of urban planning, infrastructure and architectural measures is intended to ensure that the available resources are put to better use, new ones are developed and the quarter’s attractiveness is greatly increased. Parks, sports venues and leisure facilities have already been created as part of the preparations for the International Building Exhibition (IBA) and the International Garden Show, which will take place in Wilhelmsburg in 2013. New homes and a targeted funding programme for affordable student accommodation, for example, aim to create a more diverse population mix, but without encouraging “yuppification”. The new old part of the city is to be characterised by quality of life and variety.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

The Hamburg Authority for Urban Planning and the Environment (BSU) is relocating to Wilhelmsburg and thus becoming one of the first “new settlements” to hop over the Elbe.

The specialist authority houses all the departments responsible for urban and landscape planning, urban regeneration, construction measures including the road agency and the environment and nature conservation departments. At the future location on Neuenfelder Straße, it is also “at the heart of the action”, so in the part of Hamburg where BSU will be focusing its attention in the coming years.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Sauerbruch Hutton is an international agency for architecture, urbanism and design, founded in London in 1989 by Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch. Currently there are some 70 people working in their Berlin office. The work of the practice is recognised internationally for its serious engagement with issues of sustainability in architecture and urbanism, at the same time for its creation of sensual spaces and signature facades. Sauerbruch Hutton is perhaps best known for its much acclaimed Brandhorst Museum in Munich; its KfW Westarkade in Frankfurt, awarded the best global tall building by CTBUH in 2011; its Federal Environmental Agency in Dessau, an acknowledged benchmark for sustainable design; as well as its ground-breaking GSW Headquarters in Berlin that was completed in 1999. Sauerbruch Hutton is working on a number of projects throughout Europe, including the M9 Museum of the 20th Century in Mestre, Venice. Due for completion this year are besides the Ministry for Urban Development and the Environment in Hamburg, the Immanuel Church and Parish Centre situated in the outskirts of Cologne, a university building in Potsdam as well as a substantial private residence in Munich.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Louisa Hutton and Matthias Sauerbruch received the Erich Schelling Prize for Architecture in 1998, the Fritz Schumacher Prize for Architecture in 2003, the International Honour Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2010 and the Energy Performance + Architecture Award in 2012.

The striking ensemble, which was designed as part of the International Building Exhibition 2013, represents an outstanding landmark in the up-and-coming Wilhelmsburg quarter with its unconventional shape, impressive dimension and unusual colours. A 13-storey high-rise building, standing 54 metres tall, with a polygonal base, it has two five-storey side wings attached to it, which in turn are divided into seven “houses”, each of which contains one of the main BSU departments with their own identity and organisation. The new building captivates with its round and wavy shapes: on the south side of Neuendorfer Straße, the “houses” are large protrusions, while on the north and east side, the façades take on a slightly wavy shape. Viewers are given a different visual experience depending on which way they look.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

A large proportion of the 61,000 square metres is available for office spaces and public uses such as exhibitions, library, conference centre and gastronomy. In future, the Hamburg city model will be exhibited in the large foyer at the base of the high-rise, which acts as a public forum. The notion of encounters, communication and interaction has played a key part in shaping the architecture.

The planning and implementation of progressive office and administrative buildings set high demands for architecture, design and materials. Sustainability and energy efficiency aspects need to be taken into account, as do communication processes, room acoustics and lighting and ventilation.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Energy efficiency and resource conservation have been prerequisites for the new BSU building right from the start, and already at the planning stage the effectiveness of the comprehensive energy-related and physical construction measures of the façade design were examined in simulations. Highly effective heat insulation, coupled with an effective mix of transparent and opaque façade elements ensure particularly sparing energy use with maximum possible comfort inside the building.

The combination of passive and active measures also takes into account individual requirements, so the tripleglazed windows have a rotary wing design, the additional ventilation flaps and venetian blinds can be manually adjusted to protect against the sun and glare.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Bold, cheerful, positive and optimistic – these are all words that convey the overall impression of the new building. The ensemble is completely enveloped in a polychromatic façade: On each floor, continuous aprons with a total length of around 900 metres and made from ceramic cladding glazed in bright colours make their way around the entire building, lending it an unmistakeably cheery character. Using five different shades of blue, red, yellow and green, the cladding features a total of twenty different colours. The façade is uniform, easy-to-understand, and breaks down into numerous colourful elements representing the diversity of nationalities, languages, religions and personalities that come together here and form a single entity.

The colour distribution is based on a carefully planned concept that was devised by architecture firm Sauerbruch Hutton and supports the architectural impact: “Peaks” of colour, each in one of the primary colours of red, blue and yellow, accentuate the ends of the low-rise building (blues) as well as the front (reds) and rear (yellows) of the high-rise building. Between these strong colour accents, gradual colour gradients blend varying degrees of the individual colour shades.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

Along the wavy south-facing façade, the colours revert to blue in the hollow (concave) sections, while the intensity of the red in the cusped (convex) sections increases steadily the closer you get to the high-rise. This pattern is followed on the west-facing façade, which blends blues and yellows. Greens are also added to the colour mix here. Along the northern sections of the façade, where the waviness is less pronounced, the colour gradient is linear – from blues through greens to yellows. Likewise, along the eastern façade, the colour gradient moves from blues through to reds.

The curtain façade carries a total of about 27,000 ceramic panels with a semi-transparent glaze that maintains the ceramic character. Light and dark clay fragments were used, some with a rippled surface, which required a different glaze application to achieve the necessary depth and evenness of colour. The panels are generally three-sided and the anti-fall ceramic bands in front of the windows are glazed on four sides.

Image Courtesy © Sauerbruch Hutton architects

The curved ceramic elements presented a particular challenge. Cost-effective production was achieved by limiting mainly to two radii for the internal and exterior part of the curves. For the slightly wavy façade areas along the track, straight elements were arranged in a polygon.

Economic aspects also needed to be taken into account when attaching the façade ceramics. In the first assembly phase, the aluminium substructure was put up first and the panels then hung in front, whilst in the second phase, façade elements with pre-assembled ceramic panels were used.

Tags: Germany, Hamburg

Categories: Building, Commercial Building

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