Something new on a historic site.
For this new building, intended for use as offices and with four apartments on the penthouse level, an economical load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete was designed. This was enclosed on the external sides by a facade whose proportions match those of the “Kontorhaus” facades of mercantile buildings from the turn of the 20th century.
The peculiarity here lay in the ground beneath the site. The building work would not disturb the legendary “Hammaburg”, but it did affect the “Neue Burg” which is at least as important for Hamburg’s history. In addition, the archaeologists on the building site also uncovered numerous other precursor buildings to the famous St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche).
However interesting these sometimes up to 800-year-old witnesses may be, they were highly disruptive to the planning and installation of building pit security and pile foundations for a new 10-storey construction. Much care, effort and technical know-how was required in the search for and selection of suitable locations for securing the building pit and positioning the piles. These had to be placed in such a way that they could be installed without needing to destroy any complicated obstacles.
Although the completed office building on Hopfenmarkt stands on a historic site and directly opposite St. Nicholas Church, now the special history of the site is unfortunately hidden and can no longer be experienced. But equally hidden is the effort that went into the planning and execution of the civil engineering works.
© BIN / Carl-Jürgen Bautsch, BIN, BIN, BIN, BIN / HOCHTIEF Projektentwicklung GmbH
