-
Barrier-Free Town Hall, Hamburg
Barrier-Free Town Hall, Hamburg
The elevator marks a milestone for accessibility in Hamburg City Hall. People with limited mobility and people with disabilities can now reach all levels of Hamburg City Hall from the basement to the top floor. This means that the visitors’ gallery of the plenary chamber, the ceremonial hall with gallery, as well as important meeting rooms and the MPs’ offices are accessible to all people, regardless of their mobility restrictions, independently and self-determinedly – without outside help.
Project data
Place: Rathausmarkt 1, 20095 HamburgBuilder: Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Planning: 2015 – 2020
Construction time: 2020 – 2022
Costs: 3.600.000 €
Photograph: rimpf Architektur & Generalplanung
A glass elevator over eight floors
A large number of main and intermediate levels previously hindered independent and self-determined access to all levels.
A continuous elevator shaft was constructed from the foundation stone cellar over eight floors with respect for the historic structure of the town hall, into which a glass elevator was installed.
When passing through the individual levels and the stops, the remaining historical ceilings and wall cladding can be experienced, including views from the individual existing windows. Closed areas of the travel shaft are opaquely backlit.
Apparent conflicting goals of accessibility, monument protection and technology were reconciled here through high-quality detail work and clever architectural measures.
Barrier-free from the basement to the top floor
The passenger elevator will provide access to a total of eight floors with ten entrances over a height of 27m in the parliamentary area. In conjunction with a special lifting staircase and lifts, the visitors’ gallery in the plenary chamber, the ballroom with gallery, important meeting rooms and MPs’ offices are accessible, as are newly built barrier-free toilet facilities and baby changing rooms.
The elevator car has internal dimensions of 2.14 meters by 1.75 meters and can accommodate a maximum of 22 people and has a load capacity of 1650 kilograms. The travel speed is 1.25 m/s. The cabin and access doors are fully glazed.
High-contrast and partly tactile floor surfaces in front of the entrances, call buttons labeled with Braille, visual and acoustic floor announcements facilitate use for all groups of people.
