Richard Meier & Partners in Hamburg, Germany

The 15-story competition-winning design, by Richard Meier & Partners Architects, for a new Engel & Völkers headquarters in Hamburg, Germany (northwest view). Image: Richard Meier and Partners Architects

New York City-based Richard Meier & Partners Architects has won an international design competition to design a new headquarters building in Hamburg, Germany for the international luxury real estate company, Engel & Völkers.

The firm's winning proposal for the mixed-use project depicts a two-part building. The building's central organizing element is an atrium. This space is enclosed on three sides by a seven-story low-rise office building that extends to the edges of the building site, while its northwest corner is marked by a 15-story tower.

The building is organized around a central atrium. Photo: Richard Meier and Partners Architects

A slightly cantilevered ribbon awning wraps the tower's public-facing corner and extends across the northern face of the lower building, unifying the two elements and providing a sheltered area at the building's ground level.

A similar, though less pronounced, cantilever is also seen at the southwest corner of the building. In this case, rather than unifying the two building forms, the effect is to distinguish the each from the other.

The southwest corner of the proposed Engel & Völkers headquarters. Image: Richard Meier and Partners Architects

A glazed curtain wall facade unifies the many disparate programmatic pieces, which include office and retail space, apartments, and a training academy. Inside, the atrium serves to buffer private activities from  the public ones.

The design competition included a number of noteworthy firms, such as Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects.

The building is expected to open sometime in 2015.

View inside the atrium of the proposed building. Image: Richard Meier and Partners Architects

Project Credits

• Architect: Richard Meier and Partners Architects
• Managing Partner: Richard Meier
• Design Partner: Bernhard Karpf
• Design Team: Anne Strüwing, Parsa Khalili
• Collaborators: Bori Kang, Amalia Rusconi-Clerici, Stephen Sze, Kevin Browning
• Client:  Engel & Völkers