Hanseatic Restoration: The transformation of this dockside warehouse into flats and offices follows a familiar urban pattern, but is underpinned by strong environmental concerns - Stadtlagerhaus on the Elbe - Brief Article

Architectural Review, The, Jan, 2002 by Layla Dawson

Despite rising sea levels and the cost of flood defences, recycled dockside buildings are highly prized developments. Their brick monumentality stands for stability and their high ceilings offer the luxury of space. The romanticism of sanitized industrial history is now a marketable commodity and there is no shortage of commercial enterprises willing to pay for aura by association. Emotive descriptions promise desk workers bohemian loft lifestyles by proxy.

The Stadtlagerhaus (city warehouse) on the Elbe is such a project. It has the most privileged rooftop view in Hamburg, overlooking a miniaturized landscape with container terminal, docks, and wharves for cruise ships. Planning conditions for historical monuments are strict, but compensatory tax advantages for investors are advantageous and costs are passed on to tenants willing to pay for security and exclusivity. Which explains why Hamburg's quays, where armies of fishermen and dockers once landed the riches of the seas, are now the site of recycled historical buildings with green architectural briefs. Costs precluded the incorporation of social housing, but Stadtlagerhaus's neighbours are Greenpeace, private flats for senior citizens, fish restaurants and designer label shops.

Jan Stormer Architekten (formally Alsop & Stormer Architekten) combined a warehouse and grain silo to create 28 penthouse flats, 700[m.sup.2] loft and studio offices, a 500[m.sup.2] riverside restaurant, and an automatic car park stacking system for 134 vehicles. The project was the subject of a competition run by the Volksfursorge Insurance Group, who paid 40 million DM for refurbishment with four additional storeys and a spectacular new silo roof. Planning began in 1994 and the building was occupied last May.

Energy saving and seasonal river flooding strongly influenced the architecture. Original walls over 2m thick and deeply recessed small windows moderate internal temperatures. Air conditioning is unnecessary. Windows are manually regulated. Rain water is filtered through vegetation and gravel. In case of flooding, pumps spring into action to push the water uphill into the city drainage system. Ground water pressure necessitated the installation of a steel plate over the basement floor. Flood defences include waterproof doors, similar to submarine hatches, to all ground floor openings and 25mm thick outer panes for double glazing units to resist water pressure. The emergency footbridge in grey steel, for escape to higher land over the road, has the sinuous profile of a dinosaur's back.

The building's robust materiality explores themes of earth and water. Polished granite and red brick walls are combined with matt grey steel, luscious green copper and terracotta tiles resembling fish scales. Sheet glass shimmers against the metallic translucence of the river. Protected against weather and noise with insulated glass, a layer of penthouse balconies forms a crystal crown above the five floors of office lofts. The pine-decked roof terrace (for residents only) floats over a hardy dune grass-planted roof. From a cantilevered lookout balcony hanging over the dockside, residents who don't suffer from vertigo can imagine themselves as captains on the bridge. A play space, installed to meet planning requirements, remains pristine in a development devoid of children.

Surrounded by a sea of cobbles, the Stadtlagerhaus has no private ground. Controlled entry to flats and offices is through a connecting double-height glazed foyer, which forms a barrier between public and private spheres. Only the restaurant has a separate entrance, marked by a bright orange external wall. Jan Stormer describes this hard landscaped area as an external reception room. Here the highest recorded flood level, +2.5m, is marked by a white line on the facade. Paving of polished granite is traversed by both people and vehicles. Cars are driven into a lift which takes them automatically to stacks in the former grain silo which is now a car silo.

Reduced to half its original height, the industrial chimney serves as structural support for the roof and emergency exit footbridge. The original Hanseatic gable, with restored steel chute for loading grain into barges, is complemented by a new pitched roof clad in alternating vertical strips of copper and glazed louvres. An advertising agency occupies this unique and spacious attic.

In the past, the exploitation of labour, land and commodities, was a low cost exercise in relation to the present expense of environmental rehabilitation necessary for a sustainable future. Healing takes longer than acts of damage. In this context the Stadtlagerhaus is an imaginative solution with landmark character. But photographers and sightseers are unwelcome. Even before 11 September, security was part of the tenancy agreement. The high cost of remodelling cities for green development further divides the world into those who have and those who have not.

RELATED ARTICLE: Architect: Jan Stormer Architekten (formerly Alsop & Stormer Architekten), Hamburg