Kallmorgen Office Building

Hamburg, Germany

Client: Alstria office REIT-AG Competition, second and third prize

Caruso St John was invited to a competition for the refurbishment of the Kallmorgen office block in Hamburg’s Neustadt, designed in 1968.

Buildings from the 1950s and 1960s in German city centers are an important part of national history, especially in Hamburg, where postwar reconstruction created a distinctive urban diversity. Although many of these structures were built under economic constraints and have since been altered, preserving parts of this architectural heritage remains essential. In Hamburg, the modernist works of architect Werner Kallmorgen stand out for their high quality and their strong reflection of their era. His Neustadt building, composed of connected freestanding blocks, deliberately contrasts with the dense 19th-century urban fabric by creating more open, egalitarian spaces where public and private realms are less rigidly separated.