Marco Polo
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Architect: Behnisch Architekten
Date Designed: 2007 – 2010
Date Completed: 2010
Volume: 1,440,000 cubic ft
Height: 55 m
Size of Residential Units: between 60 sq m and 340 sq m
Number of Residential Units: 58
Description: “The Marco Polo Tower is a holistic ecological building concept. There are 17 above ground levels, each turned a few degrees on their axis, allowing all 58 apartments views over the harbor and the city. Each Apartment is between 60 and 340 sq m in area. External variations in appearance are reflected in the interiors, in that no level, or apartment, is exactly the same”. The various apartment layouts wrap around a central staircase which connects all the units. “The recessed facades of the building are protected from direct sun by the overhanging terraces above so that additional sunshades are not necessary. There are vacuum collectors on the roof, using a heat exchanger to turn heat into a cooling system for the apartments. There are also sound insulated air louvres in the sleeping areas which make natural ventilation possible without increased noise pollution from outside.” (architectuul, Jan 20)
2D Drawings: plans, elevations, sections
Photographs:
Research and Analysis
Sharing Verbs:
“Bind”: The wrapping porch that is present in all floors of the building “wraps” or “binds” the separate units on the floor. Most apartment buildings separate different patio spaces so that another cannot access it from another unit, but this building has a wrapping patio area.
“Laminate”: This building is also a good example of laminating. There are various floor plans and different external layouts layered on top of each other and rotated a few degrees to create more space.
“Overlap”: Each terrace overlaps the preceding terrace, creating protection from direct sunlight. This is used both for the environmental purposes, but also for the availability of exterior space and the possibility to give the outer extremities of the building a more organic form.
Conditions of Private/Personal Space: The organic shape of the balcony allows there to be a fluidity through the units on any particular level, but also keeps the element of privacy by wrapping around the building in a way that provides separation. the overhanging balconies also provide shade from the sun, which means there’s also lack of vision into the apartments.
Programmatic Arrangement: The units wrap around a central staircase and elevator which provide access to all the apartments. There are hallways wrapped around the elevator on three of the four sides, with most of the units having an entrance at the end of a hallway. All units are comprised of a bedroom, kitchen, and living room, some units also have an office area.
Impact of site and context: The Marco Polo Tower is along the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany, and is near the port authority along where boats are constantly coming in and out, so some of the apartments face the port and some face the cityscape, this creates framed views. Also, the overhanging terraces create shade from direct sunlight on every level.
Building Structure and Materials: The façade of the building is entirely composed of concrete and glass, with the actual structure of the building being reinforced concrete
General History: The Marco Polo Tower is relatively new, having been built in 2010, which means sustainability was a main focus for the building. This structure was designed to be an incredibly efficient ecological building, exemplified in the heating and cooling systems, as well as the natural ventilation and shade. It’s sustainability was the main reason behind the concept and overall design of the building.
Drawings of Concept Models:
Concept Model Explanations:
Diagram 1: Interior/exterior relationship. Geometric form of interior space is hidden by organic form of terrace plan. Model shows how the interior floor plan interacts with the exterior terrace plan.
Diagram 2: Form. The shifting of the different floor plans creates a kind of wave on the façade.
Diagram 3: the floor plan of each level shifts, but the central staircase and elevator stays consistent throughout the whole building, which connects the different floor plans together.
Detail Model Photos:
Blend Concept Model:
Merge Concept Model:
Laminate Concept Model:
Hathaway Section - Spring 2020 
Emily and Rebeca,
I got a pretty good sense of the building from your post but don’t know it very well and am a little unclear on a few things:
1. Totally confused on the rotation/turning on an axis: does this refer to the units or the overall floor out to the balcony edges? In the photos it looks to me like the exterior walls of a unit don’t exactly stack with those above and below (balcony edges the same) but in the plans all of the walls look orthogonal.
2. Documentation: Have you found a publication that has all of the floor plans or any additional detailed drawings? I can’t see how you’ll build a detail model without more and better drawings. But I’m sure they exist.
3. More photos would help (you can tuck into a slide show if you don’t want to overwhelm the gallery). Any of the interiors?
3. Context: can you create a google maps aerial view (views) showing the urban context, river, and city, and layer over a diagram of the views and solar orientation of the building?
4. It looks in one of the photos like the below-grade parking is much larger than the footprint of the building and may form a slightly raised plinth. Can you figure out how that ground level works? how parking is accessed and relates to the boundaries of the site?
5. There’s a massive range in listed unit sizes, from 60 to 340 square meters: that’s a one-bedroom apartment up to a good-sized house. Is most of the building at the smaller end of that range and then a large penthouse or something creating the big range? Upper level plans show some interesting multi-level spaces but not much detail within the spaces to puzzle it out.
I’m not sure how far we’ll get into the sustainability of the mechanical system but if it’s of interest to you or you find more details published with the project you can certainly keep researching. But I do think the solar shading aspect worth delving into: once you’ve mapped out the solar orientation, to what extent do you think the balconies are effectively shading glazing? Is there a clear difference on the north facade. Does the solid balcony edge having anything to do with shading or is it just view/privacy? ie does it turn down at areas where the view is important or…? Can we also talk about the amount and location of glazing on the actual facades relative to the shading/program within?
I really like the thinking behind your diagrams, highlighting the three main characteristics of the building volume:
1. the relationship between the building envelope and the balcony/slab edge
2. the free-flowing volume suggested by the shifting balcony/slab edges
3. the three general zones of the building within which the floor edges vary more subtly.
I know you’re also talking about the constancy of the vertical circulation in the last diagram, but if correct I think identifying the major “zones” of the floors is potentially much more informative as to how the building was designed.
Similarly with you on the way the balcony edge could be seen as “wrapping” or “binding” the actual envelope and the laminating of slightly different floors together. (Less so on the “overlap”, seems to be more of an “overhang” but we can discuss.) My next question on the diagrams and the verbs will be: where can they come together so that rather than describing with text you’re illustrating with your diagrams?
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