Close to Hamburg's Alster shore, 42 high-quality residential units, six of which are subsidized housing, have been built in a prime location. The building with its nine floors is classified as a high-rise. A first for the Hanseatic city was the elaborate relocation of the existing 19th century facade: It was cut into sections floor by floor, stored, prepared and precisely rebuilt before the new building was erected.
Behind the historic façade, BAID developed a structure that offers urban redensification with significantly more living space than before. The result was 42 different, largely barrier-free city apartments with a very high quality of living. BAID designed compact apartments starting at 40 square meters and family-sized apartments between 120 and 200 square meters of living space. The additive addition with a modern, light glass-aluminum façade stands out in contrast, but recedes above the historic façade by stepping back. The penthouse on the top two floors offers around 300 square meters with a panoramic view of the entire city. Generous glazing with partly rounded panes and terraces with glass balustrades allow plenty of daylight to flow into the interior across all floors. The street-facing residential units start off sublimely on a high parterre level. Their generous floor heights of up to four meters are adapted to the historic facade. Nine full stories extend to the rear, which led to the new building's classification as a high-rise and is associated with special requirements in terms of safety and building services equipment. The interior structure, organized in split levels on three different levels, allows ground-floor access to the garden.
The BAID office, founded by architect Jessica Borchardt in 2005, has been shaping the area around Hamburg's Outer Alster with its residential buildings for many years. "The Whites on the Alster" is what the architect confidently calls her nine projects realized to date.