Year: 2013-2016
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Contributors: Stephen Williams, Julia Erdmann, Cristina Enache, Tobias Retzko, Dorothea Thieße, Alexander Schultz, Lucia Kons-Vespa, Linda Schewe, Vivianne Hülsmeier, Filip Wawrzyniak (@ Stephen Williams Associates Hamburg)
Concept
The Hotel building - Haus C(5) - is one of the 5 buildings that compose the STH Complex in Hamburg. The hotel with its public areas aim to influence the identity of the whole complex and to contribute to the climate and the urban development of the entire neighbourhood.
The building flanks an interior patio on three sides forming 3 wings: a main one in the East enclosing the main entrance and the South and North wings.
The interior patio was sunk to 4,40 m above sea level (originally 4,92m above sea level) and a new souterrain level was created, along with other valuable exterior areas. The patio will be used as a gastronomic area with tables and sitting places in the warm months.
The house was originally built in 1899 as the Police administration headquarters, following the plans of chief architect Christian Zimmerman. The building was placed under preservation order as historical monument. Partially destroyed in World War 2, its repairing began in 1955 when it received a new deck floor, replacing the original loft. However, the structure remained weak and a new consolidation with the help of new engineering techniques.
In the new restoration process started in 2010, the main wing was kept and restored, while the degraded side wings were to be demolished and rebuilt as they used to be, with modern technologies and consolidated structure.
Interior yard (2013)
Coat of Arms of Hamburg (located above main passage)
Main elevation (2013)
Exterior rendered image is part of an exterior render package delivered by Bloom Images, according to our architectural planning
Situation Plan
Section through main passage (A)
Elevation and section detail West
- ca. 130 rooms located in the 1-5th floors
- concierge, lobby, reception, backoffice mezzanine
- conference area in mezzanine
- 1 bar and 1 club in soutterain
- 2 restaurants souterrain S and mezzanine N
- 1 wine cellar in souterrain
- 2 shops in ground floor
- 1 fitness room in 1st floor
- 1 rooftop terrace
- guest toilets in basement floor
- technical area and storage area in the basement
Elevation South ground floor and mezzanine detail
Exterior rendered images are part of an exterior render package delivered by Bloom Images, according to our architectural planning
The Hotel spaces include 4 conference rooms: three meeting suites on the mezzanine floor and another one connected to the wine cellar in souterrain. The three rooms on the mezzanine floor open to three different sides of the building using the colours of each side as a reference: green for Stadthof (South), bordeaux/cognac for Stadthausbrücke (West) and beige/yellow for the interior patio (Treppenhof).
Looking to break the boundaries of the typical conference rooms, we tried to give the rooms a more cosy, living room feeling. The functional coffered ceiling was turned to 45° and we used wood profiles as frames.
The three meeting suites are
located around a common area: the breakout room with a direct access to the mezzanine terrace, a buffet and its own restrooms including one barrier free.
Due to the complex ventilation and installation system in the building, the clear height was limited in some cases to 2,30 m. In order to create the effect of a higher space, we used reflective surfaces on the affected ceiling also giving the space a little extra character.
