A  R C H I T E C T U R E   O L Y M P I A D

HAMBURG 2006
University Sports Park - Rotherbaum   


With the redevelopment of the sports park Rotherbaum of the University of Hamburg and its extension to the hockey-centre, the quarter between Rothenbaumchaussee, Feldbrunnenstraße, Turmweg and the Ethnological Museum experiences urban upgrading. The desire for a clear distribution of utilisation leads to the proposal that the building gap in Rothenbaumchaussee be filled in with a distinctive, elongated
institutional building. The edifice follows the building line of its neighbours to the north and is of their height. With the closing of this gap, Rothenbaumchaussee obtains a spatial curb and, with that, clearly-defined street space.  
The sports field, lying shielded within the inner area of the block, forms, from the urban spatial standpoint, a flexible, light transition from the sports and health centre to the open residential landscape lying to the east. The breadth of the landscape and the topographical imbedding of the sports complex make it clear that the residential  cones form a component of the park-like ambience. The affiliation of the residential ensemble to the triangular sports park area enables this structure to play a special role. As a component of the sports park, the residential area is situated at the point of intersection of two different kinds of building structure: to the south along Feldbrunnenstrasse stretches a line of Wilhelminian-style urban villas, while to the north, the modern architecture along Turmweg dominates the scene. Consequently, the residential landscape will be developed as a new, independent structure relating only to itself.
An open-plan 80 metre-high plinth creates the base common to the entire sports park. In its topography, it envelopes the sports ground together with the spectators' terraces and, on the other side, relieves the residential house-apartments of the immediate public nature of the street space. Deciduous trees with a small leaf-volume planted on top of the plinth form a bracket for the new residential quarter.
A garage for the quarter is planned to go under the hockey pitch and will be at the disposal of the university, visitors to the various sporting events as well as local residents as a parking garage.