Unilever Building by Behnisch Architekten

At a prominent location of Hamburg HafenCity you can find the new company headquarters of Unilever Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This new building erected right at the beach pier was designed by the Stuttgart-based Behnisch Architects, just like the adjacent Marco Polo Tower. Based on the wish of the Dutch-British corporation for an inviting, brightly lit and communicative office building with a high level of sustainability, the planners developed an asymmetrically tilted, partly eight-storey high new building with a consistently transparent shell. The double façade allows the inside and the outside to flow into each other and connects the building directly with the urban space surrounding it.

As a central element of the interior an atrium as high as the building itself has been integrated, provided with plenty of daylight via the generous glazed areas of the roof construction. The atrium not only houses a public café along with a shop for Unilever products that can also be used by the public, but also features the central opening cores. Little meeting points in the transition areas of the office zones have been created to form a place of encounter and to encourage the exchange of employees among each other. The individual meeting isles are connected with each other horizontally as well as vertically through free supporting bridges.

The new building is not only convincing through its open and inviting architecture, it also excels through its sustainable and ecological building concept. An important role here is the protruding system façade the individual frames of which are covered by transparent plastic foils. The construction which is considerably lighter compared with the double glass façades, enables for an optimal daylight usage along with a minimized cooling output and allows for the windows being opened even with high wind speeds.

The energy balance of the Unilever building is additionally improved by the deployment of sectional ceilings, the usage of energy-efficient LED-lights controlled by daylight as well as through the large green roof above the seventh floor. The walkable roof area guarantees for an improved indoor climate and at the same time serves as an appreciated recreational center for the employees. Through various measures the new building accomplishes a primary energy consumption of below 100 KWh per square meter and year. A respectable balance which is significantly different from other office buildings! That’s why the building was awarded the golden environmental certificate of the HafenCity during the opening ceremony already.

Constructor: Hochtief Project Development
Architect: Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart, Germany
Status: Opening: September 2009
Size: GFA: 38,000 sqm