Katharinen Quartier - competition proposal

Address: Willy Brandt Strasse, Hamburg, Germany
Size: housing 12,000 m², business 9,000 m² (total 21,000 m²)
Client: HochTief
Architect: Arkitema, GRS arkitekten
Landscape Architect: Arkitema
Engineer: GRS arkitekten
Developer: HochTief
Competition year: 2008
Type of competition: Closed, international

Katharinen Quartier is a development consisting of mixed business property and housing on a site in Hamburg city centre. Adjacent to the site is the Katharinen Kirche, one of Hamburg's oldest buildings. Before the war, the area around the church was built up with Dutch-inspired gable houses, but the intimacy which previously characterised the neighbourhood has been pushed into the background by insensitive planning and growing levels of traffic. There is therefore a need for the area's former milieu and charm to be restored in a modern interpretation. Our project utilises architecture on a personal scale in the area around the church, where small enclosures and squares will create intimate urban spaces. An office building will also be located here to screen off the residential part from the noise and disturbance emanating from one of Hamburg’s largest and busiest roads.
The architectural form language mimics the original gable houses by dividing the facades into simple rhythms – marked by differing shades of brick and varying heights, which provide the development with dynamics. Brick has been deliberately used to create a relationship with the church, and both the materials and colours are kept within the same scale. At street level the development is opened up by transparent glass facades.