A new office building featuring a distinctive grid facade has officially opened in Hamburg's Elbbrückenquartier development, marking another milestone for the city's HafenCity district. The EDGE HafenCity building, designed by Munich-based architectural firm HENN, represents the latest completion by developer Edge Technologies in their expanding European portfolio.
The seven-story structure, topped by an additional nine-story tower in the southwest section, emerged victorious from a 2017 architectural competition. The building's design emphasizes flexibility and public accessibility, with two-story colonnades and a column-free cantilever extending eight meters to mark the main entrance at Amerigo Vespucci Square. This entrance treatment creates a dramatic gateway effect alongside the neighboring EDGE Elbside building, which was designed by Stuttgart-based Behnisch Architekten for the same developer.
The building's architectural centerpiece is a glazed, publicly accessible atrium that serves as the heart of the 25,600 square meter gross floor area structure. A spiral staircase winds elegantly around this central light-filled space, connecting all floors while creating terraced platforms on each level. These plateau areas, with their extensive glazing, serve as communal spaces that contrast sharply against the building's strictly grid-patterned exterior facade.
Landscape architecture firm Atelier Loidl from Berlin took responsibility for the exterior design elements, including the surrounding planted rooftop terrace and green retention areas incorporated into the roof systems. The building's square grid pattern was specifically designed to enable maximum flexibility in space allocation for the multi-tenant office structure, accommodating various tenant needs and configurations.
According to the developer's website, the building's major tenants currently include environmental services company Veolia and international law firm Fieldfisher. Additional office spaces within the building are being marketed at rates starting from 29 euros per square meter. The project represents Edge Technologies' expansion into Hamburg's market, joining their established presence in major cities including Berlin, London, New York, and Amsterdam as part of their stated global strategy to create better buildings worldwide.
The completion comes at a time of mixed developments in Hamburg's HafenCity, as the area continues to evolve as a major urban development project. The successful opening of EDGE HafenCity demonstrates the ongoing appeal of the district for international developers and tenants, despite challenges facing other high-profile projects in the immediate vicinity.
