Initiated by FMH in 2009, the “Areal West” architecture competition for the region between Elbkaihaus and Columbia Twins aims at promoting the careful development of one of the last convertible areas for further vitalisation of this district.
The competition met with enormous nationwide interest. A high-calibre jury, which included the chief director of construction of the city of Hamburg, representatives of all parties in the Altona district assembly and the district construction officer, selected the winning plans from 78 participants in June 2010. First prize went to Gerber Architekten (Dortmund) together with Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH (Berlin) and Schweger Associated Architects GmbH (Berlin) together with Hager Landschaftsarchitektur AG (Zurich).
FMH granted prize money of a total of EUR 200,000 in recognition of the extraordinarily important assistance which the plans winning the competition provided for the future development of the area in due consideration of relevant aspects for the fishing industry.
Whereas two deep-freeze warehouses set amongst more modern architecture currently dominate the urban landscape along the northern banks of the River Elbe in Hamburg-Altona, looking forward, an attractive ensemble of buildings is to drive the development of the district. This will be taking its cues from the successfully established mixed use in the fishing harbour region and the availability of local storage and processing facilities. “The cohabitation of the fishing and port industry with other service providers gives this district a unique selling point and its unmistakable charm,” said Hartwig Sommerfeld, the managing director of FMH at the time.
Despite a change in the leadership of the Altona district government and the age-related transition in the management of FMH talks on the realisation of these plans have continued. The process of setting up a new public development plan Altona-Altstadt 56/Ottensen 59, which is necessary for this purpose, is to be conducted by the Altona district government. In the course of the proceedings, the public plan discussion has now taken place on 1st of February 2017.