With the proposal ‘Oberbillwerder – the Connected City’ ADEPT and KARRES+BRANDS with Transsolar have won the international master plan competition for a 360 ha development area close to Hamburg City Center. Oberbillwerder is close to both city and landscape and is the largest one-off development in Germany since Hafen City. Fully build, the masterplan will include about
1.000.0000 m2 in a mix of housing, business, shopping, public buildings and recreational activities.
A location between meadows, cultivated farming landscape and suburban sprawl gives Oberbillwerder, just a 15 min. ride from the center of Hamburg, an enormous potential as an attractive urban development area with a highly livable and vibrant city environment. With a truly convincing proposal, ADEPT and KARRES+BRANDS have won the masterplan competition for the area, that shows how Oberbillwerder through a visionary approach can grow as a city of the future.
Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, Senator for Urban Development and Housing notes: “With the design of ”The Connected City” by ADEPT and KARRES+BRANDS, the jury has selected a forward-looking concept for Oberbillwerder. We want to create a district that shows us what Hamburg should look like in the future. Oberbillwerder should stand for the pleasure of designing, with the possibility to design a lively and urban, future-oriented district as part of our strategy ”Mehr Stadt an neuen Orten” in a beautiful natural and cultural landscape.”
Franz-Josef Höing, Oberbaudirektor Hamburg continues: ”The selected design offers an excellent planning basis. The concept deals very precisely with the sensitive cultural landscape and develops a very specific contribution to this location. The plan has a good sense for the right scale, creates a diverse range of different living and working opportunities. The first architectural sketches are inspiring for the further development of the plan.”
The existing landscape, Hamburg and the planning of Nordic Cities are among the inspirations behind the winning proposal that is based on clear founding structures, rich in everyday experiences and a high level of urban quality. The goal is an urban development with a starting point in both urban character and the presence of nature, a mosaic of neighborhoods and a focus on diversity under the headline ’ mix to the max’.
Infrastructure in The Connected City ensures rapid connections to Hamburg’s city center but prioritizes pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, while looking into the future of mobility. The unifying green artery that encircles the plan provides access to all neighborhoods, public buildings and recreational activities. The overall development strategy embraces social, financial and environmental sustainability as well as climate adaption though a nuanced distribution of functions, typologies and resources.
Oberbillwerder – The Connected City
Place | Hamburg, Germany
Client | IBA Hamburg
Design Team | ADEPT, KARRES+BRANDS, Transsolar
Masterplan | ADEPT, KARRES+BRANDS
Engineering and sustainability | Transsolar
City Economics | Buro Happold Berlin
Consultant on water management | Ingenieurbüro Kraft
Status: 1st prize in an international competition in 2018
Images | ADEPT, KARRES+BRANDS
