The Sail that Illuminates a Port City: Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie

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The Sail that Illuminates a Port City: Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie

Published: 13 Oct. 2025, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Kim Bong-ryeol

The author is an architect and professor emeritus at the Korea National University of Arts.

Northern Germany’s Hamburg has thrived as a free trade port since the Middle Ages. Yet the advent of the European Union stripped the city of its exclusive trading privileges, leading to decline. To revive its fortunes, the city launched the HafenCity redevelopment, transforming a blighted dockland into a vibrant urban district. It became Europe’s largest inner-city renewal project, encompassing housing for 15,000 residents along with offices, retail and cultural spaces.

The crown jewel of this transformation is the Elbphilharmonie, completed in 2016. The complex combines a 2,100-seat concert hall, a five-star hotel with 244 rooms and 45 luxury apartments. The site once housed Kaispeicher A, a redbrick warehouse built in 1963. Instead of demolishing it, architects preserved its 37-meter facade, integrating six floors of parking, restaurants and a music school within.

The Elbphilharmonie, centerpiece of Hamburg’s HafenCity redevelopment project. [KIM BONG-RYEOL]

Atop the old structure now rises a gleaming glass building, reaching up to 110 meters. With its undulating form resembling a sail or a crown, the facade shifts in height from 67 to 110 meters. Within, the concert hall stands acoustically isolated from the surrounding hotel and apartments, with double floors and suspended construction ensuring pristine sound. The building’s 1,100 glass panels vary in shape and texture — gill-like windows for hotel rooms and horseshoe-shaped balconies on the Western corner add visual rhythm to the structure.

The Elbphilharmonie was designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, known for the Tate Modern in London and other projects that harmonize architecture with their urban context. Their design for Hamburg’s skyline persuaded city authorities to grant a rare exemption to the 37-meter height limit. A highlight of the project is the public observation deck on the seventh floor. Visitors ascend an escalator to reach the plaza, which opens to sweeping views of the river and cityscape. By dedicating this level to the public, the architects turned it into one of Hamburg’s most visited sites, drawing 4.5 million people each year.

Reflecting the sky, river, and city around it, the Elbphilharmonie stands as a landmark of modern urban renewal — an architectural sail capturing both light and spirit. The resident Elbphilharmonie Orchestra’s upcoming tour to Korea next week will bring the sound of Hamburg’s new pride to Korean audiences.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.