Richard Meier designs mixed-use addition to Hamburg’s HafenCity
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Luxury real estate company Engels & Völkers is about to get a new home, courtesy of American architect Richard Meier and his team. Located within a new development in Hamburg’s HafenCity, the headquarters will share its building with a set of private and rental condominiums, also designed by the New York-based firm.
Launched as a joint venture between Quantum Immobilien and Engels & Völkers, the scheme, named Strandhaus, spans a total of 23 floors, of which 16 are offered as private residential. These include 66 separate apartment units, and a top level dedicated to two penthouses.
Paying just as much attention to the interior as to the exterior, the architects worked with open, generous residential spaces filled with light through floor to ceiling windows and ceiling height doors. Working with natural light and featuring clean open-plan spaces and soft colours – a Richard Meier signature – the project showcases the architecture firm’s trademark white tones in perfect alignment with the Engels & Völkers brand, which is also dominated by the same colour.
Amenities include a private gym. This is located on the high rise’s top level, offering long views of the Hamburg skyline, the Elbe river and the nearby port.
Meanwhile, the property company’s office space occupies 6,800 sq m of the building’s double-height entrance lobby, ground level and five first floors. The space will include the Engels & Völkers Academy. A further couple of levels above are reserved for rental apartments.
The mixed-use building is already in construction and set for completion in 2018.
The project, spanning 23 floors, combines high-end residential units with offices for the real estate company
The architects worked to harness the site's long views of Hamburg, the Elbe and the nearby port
The Engels & Völkers offices are based on the ground level lobby – separate to the residential entrance – and the five floors above
The residential element features two floors of rentals and 16 floors of private luxury condos, including two penthouses at the top
The architects adopted a trademark approach of working with natural light, clean open-plan spaces and soft colours
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Richard Meier & Partners’ website (opens in new tab)
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).
-
S94 Design makes the most of its uptown location to blur the lines of art and design
S94 Design brings displays from Kwangho Lee, Donald Judd, Max Lamb and more to its Rafael Viñoly-designed location
By Julie Baumgardner • Published
-
Oasi Cashmere is taking Zegna back to its roots in the Italian Alps
Oasi Cashmere – an environmentally-conscious, all-embracing cashmere collection – is inspired by the Oasi Zegna nature park in the lush Biella Alps
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Lynda Benglis’ seductive hall of mirrors and juicy neon eggs in London
American artist Lynda Benglis subverts expectations with new bronze sculptures and otherworldly coloured eggs in a new solo show at Thomas Dane Gallery, London
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
Last days of Berlin’s Tegel Airport celebrated in new photo book
Photographer Andreas Gehrke celebrates Tegel Airport and creates an intimate portrait of the place where the passengers have departed forever
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
‘Ole Scheeren: Spaces of Life’ celebrates ‘form follows fiction’ in architecture
‘Ole Scheeren: Spaces of Life’, a comprehensive look into the work of the German architect, opens at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Aachen’s Center for Advanced Mobility is a celebration of technical innovation
Studio MDA's Center for Advanced Mobility in Aachen, Germany celebrates technical innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration
By Pei-Ru Keh • Last updated
-
Playfully transparent roof defines German Glass House escape
The Glass House by Sigurd Larsen, set amid nature outside Berlin, is an unconventional country home with a distinctive transparent roof
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
The iconic BMW HQ in Munich celebrates its half century
Karl Schwanzer designed a corporate icon for BMW. Now 50 years old, the company’s Munich HQ is still going strong
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
Sustainability, art and German farmhouse architecture meet at Gutshof Güldenhof
Germany's Gutshof Güldenhof is a farming complex transformed into a hub for arts, sustainability and social life, courtesy of Heim Balp Architekten and artist Danh Vo
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
A German house appears as a monolithic stone structure
A sculptural villa in the northern German town of Bielefeld is the latest offering by Titus Bernhard Architects
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated
-
OMA’s KaDeWe in Berlin rethinks shopping
OMA’s KaDeWe department store renovation in Berlin reveals its first phase and reimagines the world of retail
By Yoko Choy • Last updated