Hamburger Terrace

Roloff • Ruffing

Redevelopment and extension of a historical terrace building
Valentinskamp, Hamburg-Central

Completion Date: 2010
Gross area: 1.850 sq.metres

Valentinskamp 45a comprises the remains of the historical Hamburg Gängeviertel and is situated in the back court of the block abutting Valentinskamp. This tenement building, dating from the year 1880 and originally divided into small workers' flats, has been redeveloped and extended as befits a historically-protected building after standing empty for many years.

The existing building has been newly rebuilt and enlarged in the form of a six-storey open extension with six  floors. This fills the gap in the  Brahms-quarter square and the character of an interior court is thereby restored.

The construction parameters undertaken envisage ten flats and business units of some character occupying a central position. The development continues over the interior court of the building-complex and includes a new stairwell housing a double staircase. Both the stairs and the lift have been added as steel-concrete constructions in the area of the old building.

The existing terrace building had to be completely gutted. The four outer walls were retained, the foundations strengthened and the storeys newly built as a steel support-and-beam construction with a tiled ceiling. Small-bore piles support the foundations both within the old building and the area of the extension. After the inner construction had been built, the historical facades were fixed back into position.

The brick facade was sandblasted and re-pointed. Through this, traces of its eventful and long-suffering history have been consciously preserved. All doors and windows have been replaced by new, heat-insulated elements that are orientated in their form to the historical construction. The outer walls have been supplemented from within with calcium-silicate insulation.

The extension to the Brahms-quarter matches the immediate urban environment both in form and material. It develops a sculpted character due to its diagonally-aligned facades and bilaterally-tapered floors, so that it stands as a consciously-composed counterpoint to the existing building.
A plastered-surface system has been chosen with its grey colouring echoing that of the wooden windows and gateways.

Both building elements strengthen the quality of the whole area with their variegated qualities and together create an attractive residential court in the heart of Hamburg.