“Neue Mälzerei”, a former malting plant bordering on Ramée Park* to the west and protected as an historic building, is being refurbished and converted into an office building with an in-house canteen. For future use it will also serve the owner as a new ‘headquarters’. A new office building containing a sports club and underground car park is also being erected on the same grounds to the west of the Elbschlossbrauerei, a former brewery. In terms of design and functionality, the concept for the renovation and conversion of the “Neue Mälzerei” will fulfil both the standards set in preserving historical buildings and the future demands posed by a modern office building with the character of a loft. The office floors within the old building’s cubature shall be vertically linked with one another via a common, communicative airspace. The existing double-pitched roof is going to be interrupted and substituted by the addition of two new levels of offices. The southern and eastern façades are going to be fully renovated and restored to their original appearance. The northern and western façades will be taken down and rebuilt while continuing to take the historic style elements into account. The “Neue Mälzerei” is going to be laid open up to a height of around 13 metres above sea level. This enables light to be admitted to the two ground-floor zones of the old and new building via an approx. 9-metre-wide ‘interstice’ or ‘accessway’. As a result, the former basement storey of the “Neue Mälzerei” will turn into a new, naturally lit ground floor containing a spacious entrance area, bar, restaurant and lounge.

On the eastern façade of the ground floor, the former slope in Ramée Park* containing the single-storey canteen is going to be architecturally reconstructed and/or reinterpreted. Trees worthy of preservation are an integral element of the canteen’s design. The three-storey new building progresses below the upper edge of the building site stipulated in the development plan to the west of the “Neue Mälzerei”. The concept is a harmonious integration of a new building structure into the landscape, an integration functionally aligned to the intended objective. A ‘subterranean house’ emerges from the dovetailing of different elevations on the grounds. The resulting ‘wave’ defines the cubature of the new office building and sports club, and enables both an optimum admission of light and a targeted alignment towards the Elbe river.

The office areas on the top level are optimally lit via clefts set in the surface of the grounds. The sports club utilised exclusively by the owner is situated below the office and receives light via a southern façade and a skylight. The 3rd basement floor houses areas for technology and storage.

Design team:

Hadi Teherani Architects