Main Station Expansion and Surrounding Development

The historic station building is a protagonist and focal point, but also a large form woven into the city with varying, recognizable faces. All station facades – historical and new – are made visible, where later additions and roofs are dismantled. Important lines of sight and desired lines are retained, strengthened or newly activated. The surroundings of the station become a park and the station building itself becomes a solitary structure within flowing greenery – a machine in the park.

A new roof in the east connects the “Wandelhalle” and northern footbridge via the historic “Stadtbahnhalle”, as well as to the station square via the municipal route and the southern train platform terrace. This new station gallery equalizes the flow of pedestrians and will protect the bus stops in the south. Above the low-lying roof, the monumental platform hall and the flanking ancillary halls can once again be read in their historical clarity.

In the east between the new station gallery and Kirchenallee, a new office building defines the Bahnhofsplatz in the north and Steintorpark in the south. It stages the station gallery with publicly focused functions and the Kirchenallee with addresses. In the south, staggered in plan and section, a new office and hotel building closes off the station area. On the ground floor level, a market hall with a waiting area is offered, between the municipal line and the sloping, green train platform terrace.

Four stepping stones, as arrival points with a high address and stay quality, form the basis for a clear “brand place strategy” with different identities: Art Garden, City Gate, Street Life, Business Link. Within this, four zones are newly programmed.

The surrounding station area becomes a “Wallpark”. This marks the historic city limits, connects the existing cultural buildings and forms the prelude to the surrounding districts of Hamburg. The station building is freed from its sprawling extensions and stands solitarily – spatially structured and anchored with four arrival points in the city, within the flowing green. From the infrastructure of the early 20th century, visitors enter the lushly green, climate-friendly and sustainable urban space of the 21st century.