Upgrade of flood prevention system. Niederhafen River Promenade by Zaha Hadid Architects
22/08/2019.
[Hamburg] Germany
metalocus, ANA DIOSDADO
metalocus, ANA DIOSDADO
Project description by Zaha Hadid Architects
Located at Niederhafen on the Elbe River between St. Pauli Landungsbrücken and Baumwall in Hamburg, the upgraded 625 metre river promenade is integral to the modernisation and reinforcement of the city’s flood protection system.
In the aftermath of storm surge floods in February 1962 that caused 315 fatalities and destroyed the homes of 60,000 residents, between 1964 and 1968 Hamburg developed a barrier on the banks of the Elbe at Niederhafen to protect the city against floods up to a height of 7.20m above sea level.
Modern hydrology and computer simulations have since analysed and forecast the city’s flooding characteristics with greater accuracy; calculating that an increase in the barrier height of 0.80m was required to protect Hamburg from future winter storm surges and extreme high tides. Inspections of Niederhafen’s existing flood barrier in 2006 determined that supporting elements of the existing structure were overburdened and its foundations needed significant reinforcement. Later that year, the city of Hamburg organised a competition to design the redeveloped flood barrier and subsequently awarded the project to Zaha Hadid Architects. Hamburg’s Niederhafen flood protection barrier is in a prominent location that incorporates the city’s renowned riverside promenade - a major attraction for tourists and one of Hamburg’s most important public spaces. Situated on top of the flood protection barrier, the promenade provides undisturbed views of the Elbe and the port.
With construction of all phases now complete, the redevelopment of Hamburg’s Niederhafen flood protection barrier re-connects its river promenade with the surrounding urban fabric of the city; serving as a popular riverside walkway while also creating links with adjacent neighbourhoods. The linear structure is 8.60m above sea level in its eastern section and 8.90m above sea level in its western section to protect the city from maximum winter storm surges and extreme high tides.
A minimum width of ten metres ensures this popular riverside promenade offers generous public spaces for pedestrians, joggers, street performers, food stalls and cafes. Shops and public utilities are also accommodated within the structure at street level facing the city. Wide staircases resembling small amphitheatres are carved within the flood protection barrier at points where streets from the adjacent neighbourhoods meet the structure; giving passers-by at street level views of the people strolling along the promenade at the top of the barrier as well as views of the masts and superstructures of ships in the Elbe.
These staircases are orientated towards their intersecting city streets: Stubbenhuk, Neustädter Neuer Weg, Rambachstraße, Reimarusstraße and Ditmar-Koel-Straße. New pedestrian crossings connect each street with the river promenade. Alternating with these city-facing stairs, similar amphitheatres facing the river are also carved within the structure; generating an oscillating sequence in the river promenade as it repeatedly widens and narrows.
Dedicated cycle lanes at street level run the length of the flood protection barrier. Wide ramps at Baumwell and Landungsbrücken connect the river promenade with street level and provide accessibility for all. A third central ramp enables service vehicles to access the promenade and Überseebrücke. The river promenade is divided into two sections with different spatial qualities. The zone to the west is at a larger scale, offering wide views downstream of all shipping activity on the river. To the east, the port’s marina creates a more intimate atmosphere with a long ramp alongside the amphitheater leading visitors down to the water’s edge.
A three-storey restaurant and two food kiosks are integrated within the flood protection structure. The top floor of the restaurant cantilevers over its adjacent staircase and gives diners panoramic views of the Elbe. Pedestrian areas of the promenade are clad in a dark, anthracite-coloured granite that contrasts with the light grey granite of the staircases.
Zaha Hadid, (Bagdad, 31 October 1950 – Miami, 31 March 2016) founder of Zaha Hadid Architects, was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize (considered to be the Nobel Prize of architecture) in 2004 and is internationally known for both her theoretical and academic work.
Each of her dynamic and innovative projects builds on over thirty years of revolutionary exploration and research in the interrelated fields of urbanism, architecture and design. Hadid’s interest lies in the rigorous interface between architecture, landscape and geology as her practice integrates natural topography and human-made systems, leading to experimentation with cutting-edge technologies. Such a process often results in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.
Education: Hadid studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1972 and was awarded the Diploma Prize in 1977.
Teaching: She became a partner of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, taught at the AA with OMA collaborators Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis, and later led her own studio at the AA until 1987. Since then she has held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University; the Sullivan Chair at the University of Illinois, School of Architecture, Chicago; guest professorships at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg; the Knolton School of Architecture, Ohio and the Masters Studio at Columbia University, New York. In addition, she was made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture and Commander of the British Empire, 2002. She is currently Professor at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria and was the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
Awards: Zaha Hadid’s work of the past 30 years was the subject of critically-acclaimed retrospective exhibitions at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2006, London’s Design Museum in 2007 and the Palazzo della Ragione, Padua, Italy in 2009. Her recently completed projects include the MAXXI Museum in Rome; which won the Stirling award in 2010. Hadid’s outstanding contribution to the architectural profession continues to be acknowledged by the most world’s most respected institutions. She received the prestigious ‘Praemium Imperiale’ from the Japan Art Association in 2009, and in 2010, the Stirling Prize – one of architecture’s highest accolades – from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Other recent awards include UNESCO naming Hadid as an ‘Artist for Peace’ at a ceremony in their Paris headquarters last year. Also in 2010, the Republic of France named Hadid as ‘Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ in recognition of her services to architecture, and TIME magazine included her in their 2010 list of the ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’. This year’s ‘Time 100’ is divided into four categories: Leaders, Thinkers, Artists and Heroes – with Hadid ranking top of the Thinkers category.