Atelierhaus at the HFBK Hamburg
The long-needed extension to the Hamburg University of Fine Arts (HFBK) was completed by Winking · Froh Architekten in February. It was realised in the third attempt after winning the competition in 2017 and was completed in 2022. The studio building was created as a free-standing cube next to the main building by Fritz Schumacher from 1913.
While the main building is oriented towards the Eilbek Canal and thus slightly slanted towards the Lerchenfeld, the new building is oriented towards the Lerchenfeld. These different orientations create a tension and at the same time an open space between the buildings that opens up to the street. This gives the studio building greater structural independence from the main building. The ground floor houses three exhibition rooms, while twelve studios for students are arranged on the upper floors. A central four-storey hall with a large air space serves as access and communication between the students. The clinker facade covers the cube like a buoyant fabric. In their layering, the diagonally cut window reveals arranged in opposite directions create an image rich in tension. In terms of grain and materiality, the new building refers to its listed neighbour. The main entrance and the main staircase are located on the side, facing the main building. The ground floor serves as a gallery for exhibitions and, with a shop window, creates a connection to the street am Lerchenfeld and thus to the urban public.
In 1980, the office had been among the prize-winners in one of two previous competitions, the 1st prize having been won by Prof. Meinhard von Gerkan. In 2001, Professor Winking was a member of the jury of a second competition chaired by Heinz Tesar (Vienna). The winning design by the Saarbrücken office of Alt und Britz was not realised. Professor Bernhard Winking also dealt with the Schumacher building and Gustav Hassenpflug's entrance in the design for the staircase with arcade built in 1993. The examination of Fritz Schumacher's buildings is a constant in the work of Bernhard Winking, Martin Froh and the office. After the Zeughausmarkt, the extension of the residential courtyards on the Osterbekkanal in Jarrestadt, the extensions of the Davidwache and the Johanneum, the extension of the university is the seventh project in which the new building refers to a Schumacher building, but also stands out from it. With the Atelierhaus, an independent formulation has once again been achieved. The Atelierhaus stands as an independent structure next to the main building as if it were a matter of course.
The Hamburg School of Arts and Crafts, built in 1913 by Fritz Schumacher, is considered an outstanding example of reform architecture in Hamburg. The building ensemble of three pavilions, on the Lerchenfeld and on the Eilbek, and connecting wing buildings, is designed to have a long-distance effect over the Kuhmühlenteich and towards the city. The two pavilions facing the Lerchenfeld form a slightly raised entrance courtyard with the recessed connecting wing, which naturally marks the main entrance in the corner pavilion, which, as the main building, protrudes the widest and deepest. This subtle gradation in the elaboration of the pavilions creates a discreet asymmetry in the ensemble. The main materials of the existing building are brick and glazed terracotta facades. The façades of the new building take up the material of the existing building. However, a hard-fired Wittmund clinker with slight sintering was chosen as the facing brick, which appears a shade bluer and more metallic than the slightly matt brick of the existing building. The slanted incisions in the area of the windows lend the new building a sculptural and independent buoyant cubature. The interiors are designed as a robustly finished shell. The statically stiffening core with the staircases is planned and executed in reinforced concrete of exposed concrete quality. In its openness and materiality, this represents an analogy to the open main staircase of the existing building, which was constructed in sharpened concrete. In the studio spaces, reinforced concrete ribbed ceilings span from the core to the façade. The visibly laid string heating on the ceiling and the lighting are arranged in time with the ribs. The entrance on the side is discreetly recessed so as not to compete with the main entrance, the address of the university. The historic enclosure facing the Lerchenfeld is retained. The ground floor is divided into three gallery spaces that are generously connected via the foyer and can be used as a whole. A shop window facing the Lerchenfeld is derived from the rhythm of the façade. The open main staircase with air space in the area of the intermediate landings leads to the studio floors. A rectangular air eye with a skylight running across all floors allows daylight into the interior of the building and serves for communication among the students. Art objects and installations spanning all floors can be set up in the air eye. The three upper floors each house four studios of equal value, designed to create large contiguous wall spaces for art that are not cut up by the arrangement of the windows. Additional mounting options are inserted into the ribbed lower edges of the ceiling. When the studio house is handed over to the users, the annual exhibition of 2022 will open at the same time.
Credits
Client: Sprinkenhof GmbH Hamburg
Project type: Competition, 1st prize 2017
Service: Lph. 1 - 8
Construction period: 2020 - 2022
Construction costs: 10.3 m €
Gross floor area: 3,800 m²
Competition and design: Prof. Bernhard Winking/Frank Weitendorf/Dr. Sabine Kühnast
Project management: Frank Weitendorf/ Deputy project management: Dr. Sabine Kühnast
Project management: Susanne Winking
Staff:
Planning: Sönke Albertsen, Natascha Cabral, Susanne Ewald, Louise Tusch, Annette Romahn
Site management: Oliver Lax, Dave Motardjemi
Structural engineering: Ingenieurbüro Dr. Binnewies Hamburg
Building services: M + P Consulting Hanse GmbH Hamburg
Fire protection: Bureau Veritas Hamburg; Nicolai Wendt, HIB Hanseatische Ingenieurgesellschaft für Brandschutz Hamburg
Landscape architects: Mertins Landschaftsarchitektur Hamburg
