Residential Building, City Nord by Graaf & Schweger
Photo essay by Fritz Brunier
Residential Building, City Nord, Hamburg, built 1969-1972,
designed by Graaf & Schweger (Heinz Graaf and Peter Schweger)
City Nord was planned as an office district primarily for large corporations and other administrative bodies. The land purchase agreement included a clause obliging the developers to hold architectural competitions. The aim was to achieve the highest possible quality while avoiding overly restrictive guidelines. Accordingly, no uniform building lines were specified. This architectural freedom resulted in distinctive, stand-alone buildings that also served as a means of corporate self-expression. However, owners who subsequently acquired plots were no longer bound by the requirement to hold competitions.
The architectural competitions for Phase 1 took place between 1962 and 1965. The first competition was a call for entries for the administrative building of the Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke (HEW). Construction of the first office buildings began in mid-1964, with the first three buildings occupied by 1966. By 1967, the second construction phase and the first section of the Central Area were ready for development. Adjacent to the northern office block area, a commercial complex was constructed to house utility services for the business district, including district cooling, as well as commercial and craft services. The completion of the Central Zone in 1974 brought the ambitious urban development concept to a close.
