Speicherstadt
The Speicherstadt is the world-largest timber-pile founded warehouse district of the world. It is located in the port of Hamburg—within the HafenCity quarter—and was built from 1883 to 1927. The district was built as a free zone to transfer goods without paying customs. As of 2009 the district and the surrounding area is under redevelopment. The warehouses were built with different support structures, but Andreas Meyer created a Neo-Gothic red-brick outer layer with little towers, alcoves, and glazed terra cotta ornaments.
The warehouses are multi-storey buildings with entrances form water and land. One of the oldest warehouses is the Kaispeicher B of the International Maritime Museum. The Speicherstadt is a tourist attraction in Hamburg. There are several museums like the Deutsches Zollmuseum (German Customs Museum), Miniatur Wunderland, a model railway, and the Afghan Museum. The buildings are also used as warehouses. As of 2005, the companies in the Speicherstadt handled one-third of the world’s carpet production, and other goods as cocoa, coffee, tea, spices, maritime equipment, and electronic goods. Read more on Speicherstadtmuseum.de, Wikipedia Speicherstadt, Hamburg-Tourism.de and Miniatur-Wunderland.de.
The HafenCity project
A new part of town is growing: HafenCity – currently Europe’s largest inner-city development project – is a blueprint for European city-center development at the water’s edge. Hamburg is setting new standards in developing a whole new city – at least in Europe. On an area of 157 hectares, a lively new urban space is taking shape to accommodate a mix of office and residential uses, retail, restaurants and bars, as well as cultural and leisure facilities. What sets it apart from similar urban development projects is the area’s central urban location and the expectations of quality reflected, for instance, in its fine-grained mix of uses, its lively atmosphere and innovative development process. Also outstanding are the high quality of its architecture and open space design.
The intensive reciprocal interaction between land and water can be regarded as unique, for HafenCity will not be surrounded by dikes, nor cut off from the water. With the exception of the quays and promenades, the area will be raised to 7.5 to 8 meters above sea level. This creates a new, characteristic topography for an area once dominated by port and industrial uses, retaining access to the water and its typical port atmosphere.
