Elbberg Campus

Elbberg Campus in Hamburg, Germany by BRT Architects, 2003
 

Hamburg-based Bothe Richter Teherani (BRT) has created a consistent body of work since the firm's inception in 1991, primarily office buildings. Formed by partners Jens Bothe, Kai Richter and Hadi Teherani, who all attended school at the Technical University in Braunschweig, their work is characterized by a contemporary aesthetic that expresses their main idea of wholeness, the integration of function, cost-efficiency and sustainability. The Elbberg Campus strives to create wholeness from new and existing buildings in the Altona area of Hamburg.

Consisting of office space and two types of living space (apartments and lofts), the mixed-use development places the office building alongside the road with the residential elements set back and a terrace created in-between the two. This open space has an irregular shape that is dictated by the existing buildings and the site and surroundings.

The character of each use is rendered differently, the office building featuring curved and folded, metal-clad planes that snake up and around the building. Seen on end from the street, glass walls with louver fill in the areas between these planes. Residential uses are propped upon the raised terrace plinth in low volumes that bend to follow the site, each accessible by footbridges from the courtyard.

Each component in and of itself is a well-done piece of architecture that could stand on its own. As a total mixed-use development, the terrace space becomes very important, the variety of spaces creating an interest that wouldn't be available otherwise. The Elbberg Campus is a valuable addition to the urban redevelopment of the Elbe embankment and nearby harbor.