Elbphilharmonie

Herzog & de Meuron’s Elbphilharmonie is a landmark visible from afar lending an entirely new vertical accent to the horizontal layout that characterises the city of Hamburg.

The Elbphilharmonie on the Kaispeicher marks a location that most people in Hamburg know about but have never really noticed. It is now set to become a new centre of social, cultural and daily life for the people of Hamburg and for visitors from all over the world.

Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016

Too often a new cultural centre appears to cater to the privileged few. In order to make the new Philharmonic a genuinely public attraction, it is imperative to provide not only attractive architecture but also an attractive mix of urban uses. The building complex accommodates a philharmonic hall, a chamber music hall, restaurants, bars, a panorama terrace with views of Hamburg and the harbour, apartments, a hotel and parking facilities. These varied uses are combined in one building as they are in a city.

Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016

The new building has been extruded from the shape of the Kaispeicher, a building used as a warehouse until close to the end of the last century; it is identical in ground plan with the brick block of the older building, above which it rises. However, at the top and bottom, the new structure takes a different tack from the quiet, plain shape of the warehouse below.

Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016

The Elbphilharmonie is a landmark visible from afar, lending an entirely new vertical accent to the horizontal layout that characterises the city of Hamburg. There is a greater sense of space here in this new urban location, generated by the expanse of the water and the industrial scale of the seagoing vessels.

Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016

The glass facade, consisting in part of curved panels, some of them carved open, transforms the new building, perched on top of the old one, into a gigantic, iridescent crystal, whose appearance keeps changing as it catches the reflections of the sky, the water and the city.

Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016
Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016
Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016
Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016
Herzog & de Meuron, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, 2016


Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg
Program: mixed-use
Architects: Herzog & de Meuron
Client: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Germany
Electrical engineering: Hochtief Solutions AG, ARGE Generalplaner Elbphilharmonie
Structural engineering: Hochtief Solutions AG
Brick Facade: Jäger Ingenieure
Acoustics: Nagata Acoustics Inc.
Area: 125,152 sqm
Completion: 2016