Hamburg, Germany
City population: 1698688
Duration: 2019 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: 8000 m2
Type of area: Building
Last updated: November 2021

In 2014, local residents of the St. Pauli neighbourhood of Hamburg supported by architects decided to reshape the Hilldegarden bunker built during WW II. They managed to convince the owner of the bunker, who currently leases the rooms of the bunker to a nightclub, a music school, an instrument store and a photography studio, to re-create the bunker in a way that pays special attention to ecological and social aspects. (Reference 1-3). ”The new project would see the space continue its mixed-use atmosphere, but topped with a massive public rooftop garden with walking trails.” The 800 sqm garden will use sustainable techniques for its operation, including renewable energies and greywater collection for irrigation and will offer a public garden where residents can engage in urban food production. (Reference 2) In September 2020, the reconstruction of the bunker is still in its early phases. (Ref. 8)

Hilldegarten: Green bunker
Hilldegarten: Green bunker
huffingtonpost.de

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Green roofs
  • Green walls or facades
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Large urban parks or forests
  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Water management (SDG 6)
  • Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Inclusive governance
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Social interaction
  • Environmental and climate justice
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
  • Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
  • Preservation of historic traditions
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Other

Project objectives

- Creating a green public park on top of the bunker: providing opportunities for relaxation and historical reflection, an ideal place for intercultural social interaction. - Ecological goals: creating a sustainable ecological cycle, improving the local climate and air quality, using sustainable energy sources, using greywater for irrigation - Creating a space where residents can engage in urban food production on their own plots. - Creating a public memorial that supports historical awareness and debate - Allowing public participation in the sharing of ideas and in providing feedback about the project. - Setting an example and conveying knowledge about future-oriented ecological-historical projects, the use of sustainable energies and knowledge about plant species, cultivation, care and use. (Reference 1, 2)

Implementation activities

An article about the project wrote: "The initiative for a public roof garden has been in the works since 2014”. (Reference 3) Although the building permit was issued in April 2014, construction could only begin in May 2019 because of a delay in finding a construction company for the project. (Reference 9). In September 2020, the construction of the building still in its early phases. However, 4,700 plants are at the same time being grown in a nursery for implementation on the bunker when it’s completed. The plants being grown include “various tree species (field maple, white winter bell apple, Scotch Pine shrub, Zoeschen maple, “Finkenwerder Herbstprinz” apple, shadbush, Scots pine, holly), large shrubs up to six meters tall, climbing plants, hedges, roses, and overhanging trees and shrubs. Most of the plants are native to Northern Europe and therefore accustomed to changing weather conditions. They’re also able to handle the changing climate of today.” Many of the trees being grown will bear fruit. (Reference 8)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
  • Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat

Main beneficiaries

  • Private sector/Corporate/Company
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Citizens or community group
  • Other

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Citizen monitoring and review

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The description of the project writes: "At the beginning of 2014, some local residents in St. Pauli , supported by the architects of the Interpol + office, managed to convince Prof. Thomas Matzen, the owner of the former Flak bunker on the Feldstrasse, about their vision of a completely new city environment" (Reference 5). The Hilldegarden project group takes care of the facade green, the roof garden and the planned memorial in the bunker. The investor Matzen Ventures signed a development contract with the city in June 2017. In the event that the project is not implemented in time, the investor will have to pay high penalties to the city. (Reference 9)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown (The building is under monument protection being protected by the Monument Protection Law of Hamburg, 05.04.2013 [Hamburgisches Denkmalschutzgesetz vom 5. April 2013] (Reference 6). An article about the project writes: "The initiative for a public roof garden has been in the works since 2014, with a building permit recently issued in April" (Reference 3).)

Financing

Total cost

More than €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Corporate investment

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)

Non-financial contribution

Unknown

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Reduced emissions
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased number of species present
  • Enhanced support of pollination

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
  • Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
  • Increased appreciation for natural spaces
  • Other

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Source link. (2017). Unsere Ziele. [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
2. Jewell, N. (2017). German community bands together to convert old WWII bunker into a ‘green mountain’. Inhabitat. [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
3. Syed, S. (2017). From War Relic to Mixed-Use: Plans to Build a “Green Mountain” Atop a Bunker in Hamburg. Archdaily. [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
4. Source link. (2017). Alle Ideen. [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
5. Source link. (2017). Was ist Hilldegarden? [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
6. Source link. (2017). Fragen und Antworten. [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
7. Planungsbüro Bunker (2017). From War Relic to Mixed-Use: Plans to Build a “Green Mountain” Atop a Bunker in Hamburg. Archdaily. [image] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 25.07.2017].
8. Source link. (2020). St. Pauli Bunker: A Place 4,700 Plants Will Call Home. [online]. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 06 Sept. 2020].
9. Source link (2019).Bunker-Bau kann endlich starten – und die Zeit drängt. [online]. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 06 Sept. 2020].
St. Pauli Bunker: A place 4,700 plants will call home
St. Pauli Bunker: A place 4,700 plants will call home
Reference 6