Oberpostdirektion (City Nord)
The Oberpostdirektion City Nord or Postpyramid was a building complex built in Hamburg in 1977 . It is considered a classic representative of the Brutalist architectural style and belonged to the listed ensemble of City Nord . Most recently, the construction was largely abandoned and has been prepared for demolition since March 2017, which began in August 2017 and was completed in 2018.
Construction and architecture
The Oberpostdirektion Hamburg had its first headquarters in a building on Stephansplatz that had not been sufficient to accommodate the existing staff since the 1950s. In the course of the construction of the City Nord, the German Federal Post Office then also planned a new modern administration building there. "None of the designs submitted in the architectural competition were quite convincing," so that only two second prizes were awarded. After it was revised again, the concept by architects Gerhard Weber and Georg Küttinger was awarded the contract in March 1970.
Construction began on July 2, 1974, the topping-out ceremony was in April 1976 and the post office employees began moving in July 1977. Because of "its size and shape, the building was one of the most striking features in City Nord" 170 m, was 15 m longer than the well-known HEW house and the third longest building in City Nord. With 12 storeys and a height of 52 m, it was the second tallest building there. Out of consideration for the residential development to the west, the upper part of the building should be stepped. These specifications were then implemented for all floors above ground, giving the building the silhouette of a half-finished pyramid. The exterior design remained matter-of-fact, dominated by smooth precast concrete elements, all-round escape balconies with gratings and brown-tinted aluminum windows. To make the building recognizable as a post office, Ernst von Garnier designed the facade with yellow tones of different shades.
The basic structure of the building were three triangular cores for elevators, supply and staircases that by angled slice high-rise buildings were connected, in which the actual work spaces were a maximum of 1,300 people for planned. The entrance area was on the pedestrian level of City Nord, about 5.5 m above street level. Below street level, the building had five underground floors with an underground car park for 900 vehicles, building services and 1200 m² of shelter for employees. The building services were designed to be complex and comfortable, and there was a complex ventilation and air conditioning system, as well as rooms for a data center , a canteen and a large kitchen .
use
At times over 1,400 postal workers worked in the postal pyramid, from the 2010s only around 150. The building had become too big for them over the years due to restructuring and savings at the postal service, so there were considerations to move away from the building separate. In 2003, the architecture firm Bernd Leusmann carried out a study that found the building fabric to be worth preserving and the basic structure as modern standards. The study revealed opportunities for extensive redesign. In the following years, however, there was no interested user. As a result, the Post sold the building to Benino Investments Ltd. in 2006. and initially rented parts back for their own use.
In 2011 the facility was cleared due to inadequate fire protection measures and the remaining postal workers had to move out temporarily. In the following years only a quarter of the building area was used, parts of the offices were still used by the post office, but above all the underground car park as a place for long-term parking. The leases for the departments of Deutsche Post AG still operating in the building expired at the end of 2015. In January 2016, the project developer “Hamburg-Team” announced that the office building would be demolished and a new building would be built. The plan is for 70 percent apartments and 30 percent offices. The developer of the new building is to be a cooperation led by Otto Wulff Bauunternehmung .
Photographs and map
Coordinates: 53 ° 36 ′ 15 ″ N , 10 ° 0 ′ 58 ″ E
facade
View from the east in 2016
The bright postal pyramid (center left) was one of the most striking buildings in City Nord.
Aerial view of City Nord, postal pyramid in the middle left
During the demolition work, February 2018
Individual evidence
- ^ NDR: Brutalism: Building sins experience a comeback. In: www.ndr.de. Retrieved December 13, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Hamburger Abendblatt - Hamburg: Demolition of the post pyramid is imminent. In: www.abendblatt.de. Retrieved December 13, 2016 .
- ↑ Gerhard Dreier, consultant at the building authority, quoted from Sylvia Soggia: City-Nord - Europe's model city of modernity . S. 166 .
- ↑ Quoted from Sylvia Soggia: City-Nord - Europe's model city of modernity . S. 166 .
- ↑ a b Post-Pyramid will be demolished in spring . In: Hamburger Wochenblatt . September 9, 2015 ( hamburger-wochenblatt.de [accessed December 28, 2016]). Post-Pyramid will be demolished in spring ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt - Hamburg: Eviction from the post office - the last ones leave on Monday. In: www.abendblatt.de. Retrieved December 28, 2016 .
- ↑ Thomas Hirschbiegel: Demolition planned: Post-Pyramid must give way to apartments . In: MOPO.de . January 15, 2016 ( mopo.de [accessed December 13, 2016]).
- ↑ City Nord: Pyramids demolition difficult . In: Hamburger Wochenblatt . November 1, 2016 ( hamburger-wochenblatt.de [accessed December 28, 2016]). City Nord: Pyramid demolition difficult ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
literature
- Sylvia Soggia: City-Nord - Europe's modern model city . Dölling and Galitz Verlag, Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-937904-83-2 , p. 166-169, 255 .
- Friederike Ulrich, Axel Tiedemann: How the City Nord becomes a residential city . In: Hamburger Abendblatt . January 15, 2016 ( isaria.ag [PDF; accessed December 28, 2016]).
Web links
- Presentation of the draft of the Winterhude 71 development plan for the subsequent development of the site.