River promenade scheme tops off updated flood-protection scheme
Zaha Hadid Architects has completed a public-realm project in Hamburg that has created a new river promenade as part of an upgraded flood-protection system.
The Niederhafen scheme, on the Elbe River, delivers a 625m-long run of new public space, with a three-storey restaurant, shops and other public utilities built into the structure at street level facing the city.
ZHA said the scheme鈥檚 wide staircases were designed to resemble 鈥渟mall amphitheatres鈥� and had been carved within the flood protection barrier at points where streets from the adjacent neighbourhoods meet the structure.
The practice was appointed to the project after a 2006 survey of Niederhafen鈥檚 then flood barrier found the structure was overburdened and that its foundations needed significant reinforcement.
The area is no stranger to catastrophic flooding. The aftermath of a storm in February 1962 saw a deluge that claimed 315 lives and destroyed 60,000 homes.
Over the following six years a barrier was developed to protect Niederhafen against floods up to a height of 7.2m above sea level. The new barrier is 8.6m above sea level at the east and 8.9m above sea level at the west.
City-wide, Hamburg鈥檚 flood protection system includes 78km of dykes, six storm-surge barriers and a range of pumping stations and tidal gates.
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