The Viewpoint

Project Name: The Viewpoint
Construction year: 2004
Website: www.hafencity.com/index.php?set_language=en&cccpage=infocenter_artikel&show=artikel&item=49
Address: Spielplatz, Hafencity , HAMBURG - Germany

Architect(s) : RHW Architekten (www.rhwarchitekten.de)
Project Category: Public

Latitude: 53.5396
Longitude: 9.99421

The Viewpoint - A new observation tower overlooking HafenCity

Completed in July 2004, this vantage point has been putting the growing city into an entirely new perspective ever since. Apart from the spectacular view, the ViewPoint is a quite an attraction in itself. The unusually shaped 13 metre high tower is made from 12 tonnes of steel and painted striking orange. It did not take long for it to become a real visitor magnet. On the top platform of the ViewPoint, up to 25 people can watch the changing scene below as HafenCity steadily takes shape. Some of the sights include the new buildings at Sandtorkai and Dalmannkai, the concert hall being built on top of Kaispeicher A, and cruiseships moored at Überseequartier. Photos and text descriptions help visitors identify the structures in the area. There is also a telescope which even makes a no problem at all.

The ViewPoints spectacular design comes from the Hamburg architects Renner Hainke Wirth, whose novel idea it was to build the nearby temporary cruise terminal from multicoloured sea containers. When designing the ViewPoint, one of the architects, Ms Karin Renner, was inspired by the "animal-like dock cranes in the port" and imagined a "periscope emerging from the depths and scanning the horizon". In a few years time, the steel tower can be moved to a new position.

Contributed by ArchiTeam