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Elbbrücken Quarter: Sustainable living based on new technology

01.12.2021
Particular sustainability demands coupled with an unusually high share of subsidized housing characterize the mixed-use PATRIZIA AG building due to be built in Elbbrücken neighborhood right on Amerigo-Vespucci-Platz. The project comprises about 22,500 sqm, which aims primarily to cut gray emissions and reduce the use of resources in the construction phase as well as enable future recyclability in terms of circular construction. 
For the first time ever, functionally graded concrete will be used in a building. This new technology is inspired by the organic structure of bone substance and has the goal of considerably reducing the amount of material used in concrete building components. Besides its climate-friendly construction method, the project has an impressively high share of subsidized social housing of forty percent, supplemented by privately financed rental apartments, a child daycare center, and commercial and public uses. 

The developer, PATRIZA AG, agreed with the Ministry for Urban Development and Housing and HafenCity Hamburg GmbH on a competition for the construction design for plot 108 in which six architects’ firms from Germany and abroad were invited to participate. The Berlin-based firm of Kim Nalleweg Architekten emerged victorious from this competition.
 

According to the judges, the design represents a sustainable, lively residential building that also fulfils high esthetic aspirations. Green roofs and roofs equipped with elevated PV systems take sustainability criteria into account, as does the additive, modular construction method, which allows flexibility and deconstruction of the finishings and façades. These characteristics mean that the design slots very well into the urban environment of Amerigo-Vespucci-Platz and the whole Elbbrücken neighborhood in HafenCity.