Elbphilharmonie seen from the south
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Elbphilharmonie seen from the Kehrwiederspitze
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Cities worldwide are competing for international recognition
and architectural highlights.
The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
in northern Germany is joining this race by building a
shiny-glass-waved philharmonic auditorium on top of an
old red-brick warehouse. This historic-turns-futuristic
concert hall complex is called
Elbphilharmonie.
The Greek-rooted German word Philharmonie means
philharmonic auditorium or
philharmonic hall and the
prefix Elb refers to the
River Elbe, which connects the port
of Hamburg with Europe and overseas.
The map below shows the location of the Elbphilharmonie
at the tip of the Sandtorhafen across the
Kehrwiederspitze. This area is part of
Hamburg's historical warehouse district, the
Speicherstadt, which is currently
redeveloped for many uses by combining residential, recreational,
commercial, touristic and cultural projects.
The construction of the Elbphilharmonie began in 2007,
but was on hold for some time. In February 2013, an agreement
was reached between the City of Hamburg and the construction
company Hochtief to continue with the ambitious and
expensive landmark, although the costs will far exceed the
originally projected sum of 77,000,000 Euro [1]. Once completed,
the Elbphilharmonie will house the acoustically isolated
Grand Hall (seating capacity of 2,150),
a smaller
Recital Hall, studio and rehearsal rooms,
residential flats, a museum, a hotel, a public viewing platform and an underground (underwater) garage [2].
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Map of Elbphilharmonie neighborhood
Getting there
From the southeast corner of the plaza in front of
Hamburg's City Hall (Hamburger Rathaus),
go southwest on Großer Burstah
street for about 600 ft and turn left into
Holzbrücke street,
which continues as Mattentwiete
into the Speicherstadt. After
crossing the Kehrwiederfleet
turn right on Am Sandtorkai.
From here on you will always have the
Elbphilharmonie in focus.
You may want to get all the way to the end of
Am Sandtorkai (without passing again over the Kehrwiederfleet) and walk down to water level at the Kehrwiederspitze, from where you will be able to view the Elbphilharmonie site across the mouth of the Sandtorhafen.
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