City Building Concept

The planning for City Nord at the end of the 1950’s was influenced, amongst other things, by the teachings of Le Corbusier as set down in his “Athens Charter” (1914). A city organised around its primary functions, (Living, working, recreation) should, in short, enable its inhabitants to enjoy a better and more comfortable way of life. The result was a newly conceived and newly perceived urban space, the relaxed city – a modern office city in green surroundings.

By having a flexible frame work for city planning, the builders were able to realize different ideas for their office buildings and implement a variety of developments. At that time, the automation of offices was in its infancy, and one could only speculate about yet unknown developments.

In 1961, development plan “D 100” set out and laid down the legal framework for the placing of streets, sites for public green spaces and where building was permitted. D 100 further clarified that land set aside for building had to be at least 8,000 square meters. In addition, the type and size of building use on the plots was determined. The distance of a building to its neighbouring plot border had to be at least half of the building’s height. Only 50% of the plot could be enclosed or built on. There had to be parking space for one car for each 50 square meters of office space. As a result, a large part of the parking space was placed in the first floors of the office buildings and in basement garages. The rules called for 60% of the required parking to be dealt with in this way.

The plans guaranteed the separation of pedestrian and traffic areas. Accordingly, the footpaths were placed on the second level, about 5 meters above the street. These were mainly in the eastern section of the office park. Here you can also find the entrances to the buildings on the platform, which is seen equally as a public pathway and a recreational area.

City Nord was planned with three office building districts, to which the construction phase was affiliated in three parts. The Eastern part was to be built in the first phase, the Western in the second phase and the Northern in the third. These office blocks were all clustered around a central area in the middle of City Nord. The whole was framed by a main enclosure ring, the Überseering, with the City Nord Park a continuation of the Hamburg City Park, located to the south.

Next to the Northern office district, a commercial area grew up, housing necessary service operations, such as district heating and commercial and skilled trade services.