Elbinselquartier : Europan 14 - 1st Prize

WILHELMSBURG, HAMBURG

Productive uses form an integral part of inner cities, but Hamburg, like other major European cities, is witnessing a dramatic loss of affordable space as regeneration projects and masterplans create an urban environment dominated by high value ‘clean’ uses. Our project proposes an innovative solution to retain affordable workspace in the city by tying production space and a mixed community into the new masterplans that normally drive them out.

Our development concept is based on the 3 phases: First, ‘The Seed’; where a new public space and building provide the core infrastructure and a focus for events that generate the new area’s identity.  Second, ‘The Incubator’ as the arrival more buildings around the square host symbiotic productive and co-working uses and start to develop a community.  Thirdly; ‘growth’; development of the site spreads out, mixed groups of craftsmen, creatives and residents come together to build user-based-developments ensuring the community’s long term stability.

The project’s aim is to bring the meeting space between different uses to the heart of the new community rather than hiding it away, urban strategies to achieve this include: resolving the old and new urban grains (blocks vs. linear) allowing them to slip past each other and integrate into a whole, to concentrate activity around one core space and to enliven the entire waterfront as a semi-public space for experimentation.

 A NEW ‘FRONT TO BACK’ TYPOLOGY

Core to the project is the development of a new ‘Front to Back’ typology based on the variegated linear form of the nearby Palminwerke. We have created a typology prototype that can integrate living, atelier (ie. residential friendly working) and productive spaces into one building.  Between the buildings ‘creative yards’ build mixed communities and provide access to the housing and ateliers.  The vehicular access for the productive spaces is kept apart on the far end of the building.

An innovative ownership and financing model for certain sites in the project should provide affordable urban workspace for the long-term.  Key principles are: to create small communities that mix users, to contractually lock sites out of the free market, and to empower visionary individuals to lead community development.