Glass beats noise
There are many aspects to the character of Hamburg’s “Elbe suburbs”, and the west side of the city is dotted with magnificent villas, picturesque boulevards and spacious parks. The suburb of Bahrenfeld bears the echoes of its industrial past, while Ottensen has become famous for its creative scene. At the intersection of the two lies Othmarschen, where a new residential area has been designed to bring these disparate personalities together.
The park-like property is home to four buildings, which contain over 120 flats. The buildings are arranged to provide interesting lines of sight and spacious courtyards, which form a quiet, pedestrianised area in the centre of the community for the residents to enjoy. The head-like protrusions of the penthouse levels bring the details of the block as a whole together. The facades facing onto Jürgen-Töpfer-Straße have been given red faced brickwork with multicoloured accents, and this theme continues into the courtyard, where it alternates with light plaster facades to create a harmonious overall image.
In addition to its versatile design, the residential quarter also offers great access to the public transport system, lying as it does on the city’s S-Bahn route from Wedel to Altona. As such, the residents of this idyllic residential area can be in the centre of the city in just a few minutes. However, good infrastructure for reaching the city centre comes with a catch – high noise levels from the busy streets. This is made even trickier by the fact that the residential complex borders a commercial district that is home to a multi-storey car park, a cinema and myriad shops. As such, sound insulation was a factor that needed to be considered in the design. Since the noise levels on the west and north sides exceeded the daytime and night-time emission levels for general residential areas stipulated in the German Traffic Noise Ordinance, structural sound insulation was required.
The recessed balconies on Jürgen-Töpfer-Strasse have been fitted with glazing to protect the residential complex from noise. Following discussions with the owners, the architects opted for a Solarlux balcony glazing solution, which was used to clad the 27 recessed balconies. The owners were particularly impressed by the transparent aesthetic and simple handling of the SL 25 slide-and-turn system. A total of 169 frameless glass elements were used for the solution, which offers versatile opening and closing options so that the balconies retain their open-air feel. And when the roads are busy or the weather turns bad, the glazing can be closed to keep out the outside world. The glazing takes the form of a curtain wall, which provides effective sound insulation for the indoor living spaces. The floor-to-ceiling, all-glass elements boast a minimalist design that enables them to fit in perfectly with the living architecture of the residential building.