Hamburg, Germany
Description: New public square, heritage enhancement, pavilions and connection with the archaeological ruins of a medieval castle
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Mission : Concept Design / Detailed design
Current stage: 2 stage competition
Period: 2022
Area: 4 ha
Client: Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg
Architect: Caspar.
Djao-Rakitine Team: Irene Djao-Rakitine, Amélia Chevée
Hopfenmarkt (meaning Hop Market) is a historic square in Hamburg’s Old Town. It was the main square of the medieval new town and has remained a central square in today’s German port city. Delimited in particular by the Church of Saint Nicholas of Hamburg, whose bell tower is a landscape landmark throughout the city, the square also hosts an underground museum housing part of the surrounding walls of the medieval “New Castle”.The concept of the project focuses on the creation of a public square dedicated to the city and its inhabitants, as well as their relationship to the city’s past. The aim is to reveal the different layers of the exceptional historical heritage of the site through the development of the Neue Berg Museum. An oculus would make the medieval surrounding wall visible from the new square, like a temporal window.Different types of spaces are also developed within the square: the Lindenhain, the mound and its mirror oculus, the museum pavilion, the esplanade of the Vierländerin fountain and the vegetated Willy Brandt boulevard.The project is part of a broader urban strategy for the development of a green, inclusive, pedestrian and cycling city, in the image of Hamburg’s urban and landscape policy, in particular for its ecological and cultural ambitions.