Water City Hamburg-The Missing Link
Hamburg is a booming European metropolis and the Wilhelmsburg Island, which lies between two major branches of the River Elbe, represents the city\’s key development area for the future. The current urban development program \”leap over the Elbe\” underlines the city\’s ambition to integrate this peripheral and neglected area into the city structure. The International Building Exhibition, IBA, will be held on centre of the Wilhelmsburg Island in 2013, at the same time it will host the International Garden Show. These two major events represent the first phase of a long-term urban construction process for the Wilhelmsburg Island. Consequently the centre strip of the island will be defined as a system of parks running, from Hamburg Harbour in the North, to the rural areas in the South, crossing and assimilating parts of existing structures. The option studio will investigate the landscape potential of this site, which covers an area of 40 hectares. The students are expected to develop the \”missing link\” in this system of parks and to establish a new residential area. Water in its various forms is the leitmotif for the design. The option studio includes an optional, unfunded, site visit to Hamburg Wilhelmsburg Island and to the ongoing project of HafenCity, which is one of the largest inner city rebuilding projects in Europe.