Development of a new urban quarter on Unnastrasse

Eimsbüttel is densely built and yet green, clearly structured in terms of urban development and yet a diverse area of Hamburg. Thanks to several strategically important decisions over the decades, the small village on the outskirts of Hamburg has become a liveable district. The project proposal is yet another careful insertion in this specific place and in this history. It builds upon the surrounding structures, heights and atmospheres as a large perimeter block with a brick façade and complements the Eimsbütteler Park with the new attractive and public-oriented Eimsbütteler Platz. The square, south-west oriented and planted with trees, similar to the block type “Hamburger Burg”, serves as an address and invites visitors to linger. The edge of the block provides opportunities for spacious and well-sunlit green courtyards. It is crossed in a north-south direction by the Beiersdorf Gasse, which adjoins Eimsbütteler Platz and connects it with Quickbornstrasse and Heckscherstrasse, as well as by two residential streets that follow the typology of the Falkenried Terraces. In the longitudinal direction, connections, paths and passages lead from the portal at Heußweg through a sequence of courtyards, squares and gardens to Gärtnerstrasse. Inside, the area is densified vertically. In this way, open spaces can be generously formed, uses can be condensed and exciting urban spaces and views can be created. Germany’s first high-rise residential buildings were erected in Hamburg. The area thus becomes a new constellation of different elements of Hamburg’s urban history. The result is a multifaceted site – green and yet densely populated, slow and yet well developed, with familiar and experimental building types, with narrow urban and landscaped spaces, with intimate and very public locations that offer space for a variety of lifestyles. A common ground is established through a commitment to a good neighbourhood, a variety of interactions and short distances.