REFURBISHMENT Rindermarkthalle

Known far beyond the gates of Hamburg as an amusement mile, St. Pauli offers much more besides the colourful nightlife on the Reeperbahn and harbour: one of the largest parks, Hamburg's tallest building, the Hamburg Cathedral, the Media Bunker and, in the immediate vicinity, the traditional Rindermarkthalle. Where there used to be space for the cattle trade of 2,500 cattle and about 5,000 sheep, which belonged to the slaughterhouse, there is now space for culinary enjoyment and socio-cultural exchange.

Project: Redeveloment and conversion
Client: Sprinkenhof GmbH
Service: 3-4 HOAI
Area: 36.000 m² GFA
Location: Neuer Kamp 31 in Hamburg
Photography: Franziska Glück
Specifics: Listed building, Contribution to the 2015 Day of Architecture, Contribution to the 2015/16 Yearbook, European Innovation Award 2015

Built in 1888, destroyed in the Second World War and rebuilt in 1951. The Rindermarkthalle carries a whole baggage of history with it. And the current type of re-use, which was planned and realised in 2012 - 2015, has also been carefully thought through by the Hamburg authorities: After the application for a music hall for 4,000 visitors was rejected, the utilisation concept with a market hall, mosque, medical practices, district initiatives & Co hit the bull's eye. And the listed shell unites everything under one roof.

Our credo for the listed building: preserve what is still good and renew the rest in its old form. Because that's exactly how the market hall, with its random-looking design of a temporary market stall, fits in with the rough charm of the district.

In close coordination with the Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, building physics and statics, a comprehensive repair of the double-skin clinker brick façade was brought about. The original façades were carefully uncovered, the missing sections were repaired by hand using bricks that looked as similar as possible, and the entire network of joints was renewed. The artistic reliefs by Ernst Hanssen next to the main entrance of the market hall were also restored. Company logos and billboards skillfully take a back seat and offer the façade the stage it deserves.

At the time of its construction, the building was one of the largest cantilevered steel halls in Europe. In order to enjoy this construction for as long as possible and to repair the corrosion defects on the hollow planks and prestressed concrete, the reinforced concrete parts and the steel roof structure were replaced with a completely new one. At the same time, the roofing and the glazing of the skylights were replaced with today's standards.scht.

The market shouters don't behave quite as wildly as they do at Hamburg's fish market, but in terms of atmosphere the Rindermarkthalle is in no way inferior to the tourist attraction. With exposed ventilation pipes under the ceiling, lots of steel, wood, industrial screed and bare walls, industrial charm wafts through the hall and gives the visit exactly the imperfection that such places demand.