Today is the groundbreaking for a 77,000 m2 project on the harbour front in the German city of Bremen. With its prominent position at the end of the harbour and its characteristic skyline the project is going to connect the historical city core with Bremen’s new urban neighbourhood. The project, named Europahafenkopf, includes residential, commercial and office space and a car park and is financed and built by the local Gustav Zech Foundation. After the realization, many employees of the Zech Group GmbH will move to the office building in their new company headquarters. Europahafenkopf is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The Europahafenkopf project consists of four buildings, and seen at a distance, the buildings blend together to form a new Bremen skyline.
Street-Level Market Halls
All four buildings contain a series of halls on the ground floor that invite passers-by in with a wide range of public functions, including cafés, shops, galleries and a sprawling street food market. Housing and offices will be placed on top of the halls which encircle green and intimate courtyards. ”We want people in the Europahafenkopf to be able to develop in the best possible working environment and at the same time feel good, maybe even like to linger. The district will be characterized by an innovative transport concept. By public transport you are just four stops from the Europahafen on Obernstraße. In a mobility house bike rental and car sharing are offered. This again increases flexibility for people. At the same time, we are developing highly attractive, inner-city living space that may work and live together,” explains Kurt Zech, managing partner of the Zech Group GmbH and founder of the Gustav Zech Foundation.
Image © COBE
New Buildings Celebrate Local Architectural History
The inspiration from Bremen’s historical architecture is evident, for example, in Europahafenkopf’s reinterpretation of the characteristic saddle roof and in the selection of materials and colours. The smallest building, Mobilitäts Haus (Mobility House), is a modern car park where electric cars and electric bicycles have priority, and is constructed in red metal, while the biggest, Zechhaus (Zech House), is built in red concrete. The two residential towers, Lofthaus Nord and Lofthaus Süd (Loft Building North and Loft Building South), are built in red brick and will contain both owner-occupied flats and social housing. As a whole, Europahafenkopf will become a link between the large scale of the industrial port and the colours, details and materials of the historical city. Source by COBE.
- Location: Bremen, Germany
- Architect: COBE
- Idea compitetion: JES Julia Erdmann Socialtecture
- Local architect: Gildehaus Lankenau Architekten BDA
- Municipal planning: BPW baumgart+partner
- Facade engineer: InFaCon GmbH
- Electrical engineer: Ecotec GmbH
- Construction engineer: ConcreTec GmbH & Co. KG, STB Sabotke – Timm & Partner
- Mechanical installations: Ebert Ingenieure GmbH
- Client: Zech Group GmbH
- Programme: housing, offices, car park, commercial space, urban space
- Size: 30,000 m2 office; 24,500 m2 owner-occupied flats; 6,700 m2 non-profit housing; 8,000 m2 commercial space; 7,600 m2 car park; total floor space 77,000 m2
- Year: 2019
- Images: Courtesy of COBE
Image © COBE Image © COBE 
Image © COBE