Hamburg, Germany 2002–2007

The Empire Riverside Hotel and the ‘Brauhaus’ – an adjacent retail and offi ce building – are located in the centre of Hamburg on the former Bavaria brewery site, previously the largest industrial workplace in the inner city. The site constituted an urban void separating two disparate pieces of urban fabric: to the east, the grandeur of the commercial and institutional buildings of central Hamburg; to the north and west, the domestically scaled nineteenth-century working class district of St. Pauli with its principal thoroughfare, the Reeperbahn.

The project draws its immediate context into a programmatic and formal dialogue. It consists of three elements: a tower, a lower base and a public square (enclosed by the ‘Brauhaus’ and the lower base of the hotel). The hotel required over 300 guest rooms, fl exible conference spaces, a ballroom, lobby spaces (including lounge, bar and restaurant), associated back-of-house facilities, a spa, and parking for 260 cars. In addition to the hotel requirements, the masterplan stipulated a 1,000 square-metre footprint and a height of seventy metres.

The combination of these requirements presented a signifi cant challenge when mediating between the disparate parts of the city. The sequence and scaling of connected volumes was therefore seen as key to the development of the design. The hotel plot is at the western end of the larger site and the tower is positioned right up to the eastern edge of this plot. Two splayed set-backs struck at different levels across its east and west façades defi ne the tower as a slender form facing the river. The L-shaped base of the hotel containing most of the public areas and the ‘Brauhaus’ continues the eaves line of the neighbouring historic fabric.

Internally, the hotel’s ground fl oor with its public areas is connected to the tower by a four-storey lobby space. Also publicly accessible, the top (twentieth fl oor) of the tower is crowned by a lofty double-height bar with dramatic views over the Elbe river and the city. The guest rooms, situated in the remaining seventeen fl oors of the tower, are intuitively arranged to create a sense of normality and spatial comfort. The full-height windows further characterise the rooms by offering stunning views and orienting the guest within the city. The material palette remains subdued with smoked-oak wall panels, a dark bitumen terrazzo, and classic Chesterfi eld furniture with brightly coloured leather upholstery, and corresponds to the lively structure of the bronze façade.

Empire Riverside Hotel

Hamburg, Germany 2002–2007

Empire Riverside Hotel

20022007February 2008Hotel 21,000 m2, ‘Brauhaus’ 5,500 m2

Empire Riverside GmbH & Co. KGDavid Chipperfield Architects, BerlinChristoph Felger, Harald MüllerChristian Helfrich, Lutz Schütter, Ulrich GoertzLützow 7 Landschaftsarchitektur und Gartenkunst,Levin Monsigny LandschaftsarchitektenPlanungsgruppe Dröge Baade NagarajREESE Beratende Ingenieure VDIR+R FuchsWitte Projektmanagement GmbHChristian Richters, Andrea Flak

Project startCompletionOpeningGross floor areaClientArchitectPartnersProject architects Landscape architect

Structural engineerServices engineerFaçade consultantProject managementPhotographer

The façade is constructed from prefabricated elements em phasising the building’s verticality. The use of bronze as a singular material is conceived as a continuous wrap around the building, enhancing the rhythmical character of the façades, while the beamand- post structure articulates the verticality of the total composition.

Seen from the Elbe, together with Astra Tower and St. Michaelis Church, the slender tower takes its place within the celebrated ‘Hafenkrone’ – an ensemble of prominent buildings and spires that defi ne the Hamburg skyline.

Empire Riverside Hotel