Green Der Spiegel Headquarters Tops Out in Hamburg

One of Europe's largest newspaper publications is getting a new home in Hamburg and the project recently topped out last week. <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/" target="_blank">Der Spiegel</a> will move into their new green-built and energy-efficient headquarters next summer, taking advantage of their prime location on the Ericusspitze by the entrance to the new active urban area, HafenCity. <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/04/12/new-canary-islands-concert-hall-has-a-semi-intelligent-shading-facade/" target="_blank">Henning Larsen Architects</a> designed the new headquarters, which has been nominated for a gold medal in <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2009/09/22/herzog-de-meurons-design-for-the-hamburg-philharmonic-unveiled/" target="_blank">HafenCity</a>, which is new certification that recognizes the development of sustainable buildings in Germany.

Der Spiegel Headquarters is a 50,000 square-meter project comprised of two buildings: one for Der Spiegel and another, the Ericus-building, for other offices. The new headquarters is located nearby the much-anticipated <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/05/28/herzog-de-meurons-elphilharmonie-concert-hall-tops-out/" target="_blank">Elbphilharmonie</a> designed by Herzog + de Mueron, which topped out over the summer.

The two buildings are arranged to form a large u-shaped courtyard that opens up towards the water and slightly towards the south to collect the sun. Large plazas on either side of the building promote an active urban scene, provide more green space, and access to the waterfront promenade.

Louis Becker, Director and Partner in Henning Larsen Architects, said that “the ambition has been to design more than just an office building. Spiegel’s new HQ is a building that really gives something back to city. As an architectural and sustainable icon, the building reflects the profiles of Spiegel as well as HafenCity and, in interaction with its surroundings, it provides Hamburg with a new, vibrant urban space."

HafenCity has developed its own <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/10/13/three-buildings-achieve-worlds-first-living-building-certification/" target="_blank">green building certification</a>, which has tighter requirements than other certifications and is considered a forerunner of the requirements that will be incorporated into German building regulations in the years to come.

"<a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&amp;sl=de&amp;u=http://www.hafencity.com/de/konzepte/ausgezeichnete-hochbauten-das-umweltzeichen-hafencity.html&amp;ei=UiPQTMPaMIG4sQOJuvn5Aw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=translate&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CBoQ7gEwAA&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3DHafencity%2BUmweltzeichen%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3D2Td%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Div" target="_blank">Hafencity Umweltzeichen</a>" is a certification standard with five categories of sustainability in which specific objectives must be achieved in order to obtain silver or gold. To achieve overall gold for the project, a gold rating must be achieved for four out of the five categories.

Der Spiegel and Henning Larsen are aiming for a gold medal and based on initial designs, the project will achieve gold in four out of the five categories.

The first category is energy consumption, which has been greatly reduced so that the entire project will use 80 kWh per sq meter per year (~7.4 kWh/sq ft/year).

The project is also aiming for high marks in the public resources category by having an architectural competition, for which Henning Larsen won back in 2007. The public must also have access to the site.

Thirdly, the project will utilize <a href="../green-materials/" target="_blank">environmentally friendly building materials</a>, for which Der Spiegel HQ will achieve a silver status.

The fourth category concerns the health and comfort of employees of the building, which includes minimizing toxins, the use of low-VOC materials, allergen-free materials and, eco-friendly cleaning products. Der Spiegel anticipates gold status for this category.

Finally, the fifth category concerns environmentally-friendly operation, which deals with sustainable construction as well as operation, and for this Der Spiegel also anticipates a gold status.

Construction on the new headquarters is expected to be completed in 2011 and the company plans on moving in during the summer of 2011.

Der Spiegel HQ are located on the opposite side of HafenCity from the Elbephilharmonie on the Elbe River in Hamburg.