Richard Meier & Partners
Rickmers Reederei Headquarters
Hamburg, Germany

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
Rickmers Reederei Headquarters

Recalling Hamburg's Hanseatic mercantile history, the Rickmers Reederei building is a sleek, new headquarters for an international shipping company.
The site enjoys a shoreline exposure to the Aussenalster, a large civic lake linked to Hamburg's port via a network of canals, while low-rise housing, classical urban villas and the United States Consulate fashion the texture of this primarily residential neighborhood.

Given these site conditions, an intimate program, and a small 2770 square meters floor area, this building is a reconciliation between the scale of a residential project and the infrastructure demands of larger commercial projects.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Main entrance.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The Reception area.

Within the formal composition, subtly curved roof and curtain wall elements seek to architecturally unify zones of discrete workspaces.
These work areas offer varying degrees of privacy in response to programmatic needs. Given the high ratio of informal meeting areas, lounges, tea kitchens and exterior wood decks to personal workspace and the rather small floor plates, the atmosphere is more in the vein of a home/work typology rather than the strictly defined spatial logic of conventional office space.
A double-height entry reception area occupies the ground floor along with office space.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The top floor terrace.

The second floor is comprised of a gallery and office space, with additional office space and a flexible conference area on the third floor. Executive offices are located on the sculptural top floor. Below grade, two basement floors contain parking and archival space.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The suspended balcony.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The platform Gallery.

In addition to providing new workspace, the suspended platform gallery in the entry hall buoyantly provides a display area for the Rickmers Company to showcase a superb collection of scale ship models, portraying elements of their fleet.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The street facade.

A cutaway portion of the arced north facade reveals this suspended interior space to the passing automobile traffic, while the remainder of this elegantly glazed screen frames and reveals various other elements of interest to passerbys.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser
The back of the Rickmers Reederei Building.

Drawing courtesy Richard Meier & Partners.
Site Plan

Drawing courtesy Richard Meier & Partners.
West Elevation

Drawing courtesy Richard Meier & Partners.
North Elevation

Schedule:
Design: 1998-1999
Construction: 1999 -2001

Client:
Rickmers Reederei, GmbH & Cie
Hamburg, Germany

Design Team:
Richard Meier
Bernhard Karpf

Collaborators:
Matthias Oppliger
Clay Collier
Dukho Yeon
Jörg Petri
Adrian Ulrich

Associate Architect:
Ehrensberger & Oertz
Hamburg, Germany

Lighting Consultant:
Tobias Grau
Rellingen, Germany

Structural and Mechanical:
Ove Arup & Partners
New York, NY

Engineers:
Kai Trebes
Kiel, Germany

General Contractor:
Richard Ditting GmbH
Rendsburg, Germany

Façade Contractor:
Feldhaus
Emsdetten, Germany

Structural System:
Poured-in-place concrete structure.
Prefabricated steel structure for penthouse roof

Major Materials
Facade: white aluminium panels, transparent/translucent glass
Floors: granite, wood decking, carpeting
Walls/ceilings: sheetrock, wood paneling, glass

Square footage:
3025m2 gross
2770m2 net
1788m2 site