Closer look: MVRDV's winning Hamburg Innovation Port tech hub masterplan

The urban high-tech hub known as Channel Hamburg in Germany will soon expand to include MVRDV's mixed use development, which the firm was recently appointed to design after winning the masterplan competition. 

Working alongside the Berlin office of architecture firm morePlatz, MVRDV focused on creating a “diverse public space in which each part has its own strong character”. The 70,000 m2 development will boast a flexible program of tech-hub essentials like hotels, conference halls, offices and start-up spaces, labs, research facilities, and parking. Other components in the master plan include the conversion of an existing structure into a central entrance as well as a hotel that will be accessible through a jetty.

Read on for more about the project from MVRDV.

“The site of the Hamburg Innovation Port project is at the waterways of old Harburger Schloss in the so-called Channel Hamburg development, the southern high-tech hub of Germany’s most northern metropolis, which is currently nearing its final stage of realisation...Part of the 70,000 m2 project is the idea of a diverse public space in which each part has its own strong character. There is a park, a boulevard, a square, shared spaces and a water side promenade featuring wide stairs...”

“The basis of the urban plan are alleys between the street and harbour basin. The plinth in up to three storeys follows this harbour typology. The next layers are floors suitable for laboratories and larger office spaces. The higher points of the plan offer room for light and flexible offices, and in the centre of the building’s volumes are spaces for special programming including restaurants, canteens or libraries. The roofs are partly green and partly used for terraces and solar cells. In a later stage the roofs and some of the buildings will be connected via bridges. The bridges are flexible and can be adapted to the users, in this way horizontal, large surface offices can be created. 

Parking [will be located] underneath each building and accessible through one communal entrance. An existing hall on site will be transformed and be used for temporary on-site activities or to support the construction of the other phases. The fifth building is a hotel that is proposed to float in the port and accessible via a jetty.”

MVRDV proposed mixed urban plan with flexible programming that can be changed as demands evolve over time.  “At Hamburg Innovation Port we envision a very high density to create a vibrant neighbourhood and to make the best use of this fantastic location at the waterside, a former cattle food factory site,”  MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs said. “The density is FAR3.3, comparable to a typical Berlin city block with its courtyards and outhouses, but designed in a way to offer daylight and vistas.”

Credits

Project Name: Hamburg Innovation Port
Location : Hamburg –Harburg, Germany
Year : 2016+
Client: HC Hagemann Construction Group
Design Team: Winy Maas, Jacon van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries, Markus Nagler, Tobias Tonch, Jonathan Schuster, Lisa Bruch
Size & Programme: A total surface of 70,000m2 of which 6,300m2 hotels, 5,400m2 conference halls, 26,000m2 offices and start-ups, 9,600m2 laboratories, 7,100m2 research facilities and 7,800m2 parking. The plan offers through its 1,35m grid enough flexibility to change the programme along its realisation and allows enterprises of all sizes to occupy the various buildings.
Budget : 150 million euros
Co-architect : morePlatz: Johannes Schele, Caro Baumann
Model : Made by Mistake

Check out more of MVRDV's previous projects in the links below.