050_Hafenstraße 8

At the western entrance of the promenade, the multi-family house Hafenstraße 8 creates a new entrance situation for the transition between the historical old town and the former industrial area. The new building is arranged on the competition area in such a way that a plaza as an open and inviting entrance area to the river promenade is created at the intersection between Hafenstraße and Zollstraße. This connects the visitor streams from Zollstraße, Hafenstraße and riverfront promenade and opens and divides, over the new building, the transition from the old town to the former industrial estate.

The new building is defined by three storeys, which are accessed via a central staircase. Each individual floor consist of at least three apartments per floor. The staircase is bright and friendly and has a skylight from which daylight passes over the stairs eye deep into the interior of the stairwell and entrance area. All the apartments have a main orientation of the living areas to the river Elbe and have an affiliation to the living area, which is partly a balcony and partly loggia, offering to the inhabitants a combination of the protected privacy of a loggia and the panoramic view of a balcony. The living area is open as a combination area of cooking, dining and living area and is designed with a direct view from the north to the south facade.

Urban Design:

The new building on the eastern part of the competition grounds marks the transition between the historic old town and the former industrial area. The volume of the new building is formed by recording the pediment geometries of neighboring buildings on the Zollstraße 8 property and the former customs house. The volume is shifted on the property so that the new river promenade opens from the promenade of the floodwater protection wall to the junction along the building edge. The distance between the customs office and the new building corresponds to the second building between the customs office and the planned building. This results in an urban development of the existing building volumes taking into account the urban development rhythm and a new corner of the former industrial estate opposite the old town.

The expansion of the new plaza on the promenade to the intersection between Hafenstraße and Zollstraße allows an optimal bundling of the visitor flows from Hafenstraße, Zollstraße and promenade. In addition, an urban view of the existing viewing point of the boat slipway along the river Elbe promenade is created, served by the Bistro/ Cafe. The course is designed with different seating areas and green areas so that it offers a very high quality of stay.

Through a proposed use of the existing slipway as a bathing place with water access to the Elbe, the plaza and the Bistro/ Cafe get additional urban significance. In this case, it is proposed to open a further part of the floodwater protection wall and to provide it with flood protection elements which can be used. The former boat slip system is equipped with a wooden plateau and a freshwater pool. They serve as a further gastronomic area of the bistro and as a non-swimmer area for bathers. The plateaus can be driven up and down on the slipway and  adapted to the Elbe water level. A bathing use of the boat slip system would strengthen the already existing tourism use of the river Elbe promenade and serve as a further attraction for the area.

Status: 1st Prize Competitions

Client: WGW Wittenberge

Year: 2017

Size: 972m² GFA

Ana Domenti, Marc Dufour-Feronce, Raimon Espasa, Andreas Reeg

SVZ Online Newspaper: 03.06.2017 "Besondere Idee für speziellen Ort"

WGW Wittenberge: 20.12.2017 "Freibadflair & Café-Atmosphäre"

DAB Deutsches Architektenblatt: 01.2018 "Überzeugende Beiträge der Referenten zur Werkstattveranstaltung", pp.27-28