News: the world's first building to be powered entirely by algae is being piloted in Hamburg, Germany, by engineering firm Arup.

The "bio-adaptive facade", which Arup says is the first of its kind, uses live microalgae growing in glass louvres to generate renewable energy and provide shade at the same time.

Installed in the BIQ building as part of the International Building Exhibition, the algae are continuously supplied with liquid nutrients and carbon dioxide via a water circuit running through the facade.

When they are ready to be harvested they are transferred as a thick pulp to the technical room inside the building and fermented in a biogas plant.

The facade also absorbs heat from the sun to warm the building's hot water tank, while sunny weather encourages the algae's growth to provide more shade for the building's occupants.

"To use bio-chemical processes for adaptive shading is a really innovative and sustainable solution, so it is great to see it being tested in a real-life scenario," said Jan Wurm, a research leader at Arup.

"As well as generating renewable energy and providing shade to keep the inside of the building cooler on sunny days, it also creates a visually interesting look that architects and building owners will like," he added.

The project was led by Arup in cooperation with German consultancy SSC Strategic Science Consult and the building was designed for the exhibition by Austrian firm Splitterwerk Architects. The shading louvres were made in Germany by Colt International.

The International Building Exhibition in Hamburg continues until 3 November.

Algae-powered buildings have until now remained in the conceptual stage, with ideas for a building covered in modular algae pods and a biofuel-powered skyscraper in London previously featuring on Dezeen – see all algae architecture and design.

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German practice J. Mayer H. has replaced the gridded facade of a 1950s office building with organically curved glass and white render.

"We tried to design a facade that would be a bit more free, something less strict and linear" explained Wilko Hoffmann of J. Mayer H.

Located above the Schlump underground station in west Hamburg, Schlump One is a seven storey building and the architects have extended it to accommodate more offices and the facilities for a private university.

The curved forms continue inside the building, where partitions have rounded openings that form surfaces beside the corridors.

Combined with the extension, the building has a U-shaped plan that wraps around a courtyard at the rear.

We've published a few stories about J. Mayer H. over the last year, including a round-up of projects in Georgia and proposals for a building made from scaffolding.

See more stories about J. Mayer H. »

Exterior photography is by Jan Bitter and interior photography is by Ludger Paffrath.

Here's some more information from the architects:

Schlump ONE – Hamburg, Germany
Office Complex and University Building

The project "Schlump ONE" is located directly at the underground station Schlump in Eimsbüttel district in Hamburg.

The original administration building from the 1950s and 90s was gutted, renovated and expanded, and has now been converted into an office building with four possible rental units per floor.

The existing data processing center in the courtyard has been transformed into a private university and expanded to include a new building.

The building’s facade has been completely renovated and redesigned to form a single unit that freely interprets the original building’s 1950s linear design.

The organic formal language of the facade is continued in the design of interiors.

Above: original office building

The project is embedded in a sophisticated, open space planning design with oversized tree sculptures.

Site plan - click above for larger image

Project Team: Juergen Mayer H., Christoph Emenlauer, Mehrdad Mashaie, Ana Alonso de la Varga
Project Architect: Hans Schneider

Ground floor plan - click above for larger image

Project: 2010 - 2012
Completion: Summer 2012
Client: Cogiton, Projekt Eimsbuettel GmbH, Hamburg

Typical floor plan - click above for larger image

Architect on Site: Architekturbuero Franke, Hamburg
Structural Engineers: WTM Engineers
Building Services: Energiehaus Ingenieure, Sineplan, Hamburg
Landscape Architects: Breimann Bruun Simons, Hamburg

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Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has completed a mixed-use block in Hamburg with a facade that parts like a pair of red curtains.

Located in the Hafencity development area of the city, the ten-storey Sumatrakontor is clad in stone that references the red colour of brick buildings nearby on the harbour.

Shops line the building at ground level, while offices, luxury apartments and a five star hotel are contained in the floors above.

Where the facade parts, glazing screens a ground-floor lobby that extends up through the full height of the building.

Erick van Egeraat also recently completed an underground museum extension - see it here and see more projects by the architect here.

Photography is by J Collingridge.

Here's some more information from the architects:

Erick van Egeraat completes ‘Sumatrakontor’ in Hamburg

At Hamburg Hafencity the brand new ‘ Sumatrakontor ‘ by Dutch Architect Erick van Egeraat was officially opened. The 37.000 sq-metre, ten story – multifunctional building houses a variety of inner-urban functions such as; a five-star Hotel, Offices and Conference rooms, retail, high-end housing and an underground parking garage.

The office and conference spaces maximize the variety in use due to the flexible structure offering units from 400 to 4.000m2. The retail in the lower floors ensure vitality in use and dynamics throughout the day. Erick van Egeraat’s design refers to the richly detailed existing red-brick harbor buildings of the 'Speicherstad'  but does so in a contemporary manner. The large volume appears to be ‘cut’ in 4 different volumes and this is underlined by a specific dialectic play between glass, aluminium and red natural stone slabs for each of the different volumes. The inner courtyard on the other hand emphasises on the calm comfort of the traditional white plastered facades in the city center of Hamburg.

“I wanted to elaborate on the existing quality of this historic waterfront in a contemporary manner, so the Sumatrakontor needed to combine a number of qualities in both function and appearance. In this way the building really becomes an attribution in the activation of the city “ says Erick van Egeraat.

Whilst the original Masterplan set out to develop the ‘ Hafencity ‘ with simple building blocks, Erick van Egeraat’s interpretation is an evolution. In a playful manner the Sumatrakontor evolves upon the urban-rules set out in the masterplan, but it also leaves room for chance, for interpretation. One of the ‘cuts’ in the northern façade creates a void which in itself is the access to the inner courtyard. This courtyard is the inhabitants private garden in a environment which is largely dominated by stone.

The Sumatrakontor was initially developed by property investors ING REim, SNS property finance and Gross + Partners the latter was recently acquired by real estate investor Pramerica.

On an urban scale, the building’s shape allows a semi-public space and stimulates social interaction, while its architectonic appearance strongly relates to the character of Hamburg. The new building designed by Erick van Egeraat and his team is therefore a perfect example of the specific theme Erick van Egeraat introduced in his design for the Überseequarter: connecting the inner city with the revitalized waterfront and making the Überseequartier an integral part of the new and dynamic 21st century Hamburg.

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A painted-timber skin that skirts around the top storey of this Hamburg house reveals the heights of staggered floors inside.

Completed by German architects Kraus Schoenberg in 2007, the two-storey Haus W is nestled into a gently sloping landscape.

A living room occupies the entire ground floor and is fronted by continuous walls of glazing that face a sunken garden.

The rooms upstairs, which include bedrooms, bathrooms and a dressing room, are constructed from timber and are arranged at different levels.

A two-storey-high bookcase is the centrepiece of the house and extends through both floors.

The building was prefabricated, just like a few others we’ve featured recently on Dezeen – see our special feature here.

Photography is by Ioana Marinescu, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's a little more text from Kraus Schoenberg:

Haus W

This is an affordable prefabricated low-energy house for a young couple and their two children. The family wanted a house which felt like a connected space, but which would also offer individual freedom to the occupants.

The building is separated into an upper and a lower part.

Above: photograph by Kraus Schöenberg

The upper volume consists of rooms of various heights corresponding to their individual function. Bedrooms, bathrooms, the dressing room and the rooms for the children all require different heights and project into the lower living areas. This common space is organised by these staggered volumes without being interrupted by partitions.

Walking around the house takes one through a variety of rooms on the upper level, which are orientated to the garden as well as to the inner atrium. The openness allows the user to combine rooms and functions in various ways.

The walls and floors of the individual upper rooms are built of sustainable CNC-cut timber panels. These do a variety of things: they constitute the finish; define spaces and functions; help insulate the building; are recyclable; create a comfortable internal environment; and offer a cost-effective building solution.

The lower ground floor is cut into the ground creating direct views into the garden while standing up, or offering a feeling of security while sitting down. The various heights of the ceiling above indicate the individual rooms of the upper level.

Type: Single family house
Client: Family W

Location: Hamburg, Germany
Date: 2006 - 2007
Construction: 4 months

Area: 130m2
Volume: 600m3
Ceiling heights: 1.88m – 6.30m

Value: £ 200 000
Heating: Geothermal power
Energy use: 59.8kwh/m2a

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Architects Stephen Williams Associates have completed a hotel that looks like a shipping warehouse beside the harbour in Hamburg.

Named the 25hours Hafencity, the hotel features a ground-floor lounge with gridded markings on the floor and a conference room inside a freight container.

Visitors check in at a desk of plywood boxes and can pile up their luggage on industrial trolleys.

Each room comes with a trunk that hinges open to reveal a desk stocked with drinks, a logbook, information packs and electrical sockets.

A boxing punch-bag and bespoke sit-up chairs are all that comprises the hotel gym, but neither is sheltered from the rain.

A row of telephones boxes made from salt-bleached driftwood house Skype booths for guests, while a printer can be found inside a rusty metal cage.

The hotel is located in the Hafencity development area in southern Hamburg and is our second story this week from the district – see our earlier story about a canteen with a spotty ceiling and see all our stories about Hafencity here.

Here's some more information from Stephen Williams Associates:

A modern maritime story: the 25hours Hotel Hafencity

Hamburg's Hafencity is one of the most ambitious urban construction sites in Europe. A new district is emerging creating a lively city quarter, a microcosm of modern life where people come together, mingle, confer and celebrate. So it was the idea behind the new 25hours Hotel Hafencity to give this new district a new „living room“ in the heart of the Hafencity.

"We wanted to create a web of meaning with interrelating signs and symbols referring to seafaring and harbour life. A place where old and new stories come to life," describes the British Architect and Designer Stephen Williams. It all began from the poems of Joachim Ringelnatz with the fictitious sailor Kuttel Daddeldu, a good soul who's deeply rooted in the seafaring life, but also coarse and a little cheeky.

From the projects inception the idea of a multi-disciplinary team played an important role - The client was an integral part of the design team from day one and formed part of a creative collective co-ordinated by Stephen Williams Associates. The ultimate user-generated architecture where all participants bounced ideas within spacial structures - a storyteller, an event agency and an illustrator giving meaning at all levels. "We worked together like story editors in epic TV-series where a team of writers and professionals with different backgrounds fiddle about to get the perfect story that works at various levels: truly reflect life and it's meaning," says Stephen Williams. "It could be considered, that our role is a like that of director of space balancing narrative identity with feasibility and, on top producing unique ideas."

Modern seamen or 'maritime nomads' have something in common with travellers, dubbed as 'urban nomads': mobility. In search of this spirit, Markus Stoll, a storyteller for brands, interviewed 25 international sailors in the Seaman's Club Duckdalben in Hamburg. Passionate about the contemporary notion of the seafaring world, he adapted the first-hand accounts into semifictional stories that became one of the guiding themes of the hotel's concept.

The seamen's stories were illustrated by Jindrich Novotny and appear not only on wall surfaces but also in specially created log books in each room.

Guests when retreating to their rooms experience the intimacy of cabins. Conventional furniture replaced with built-in elements and a 'travel trunk' providing the visitor with all that they will require: information, log book, drinks, working space with writing instruments and electrical connections. The sea trunk and its contents evoke the emotion of a transitory existence, the seafarer now on land for a short period with all his belongings.

The hotel offers a classical typology of spaces but comes up with surprising interpretations. The rooms are cabin-style suites, the business center is called the 'Radio Room'. Privacy is catered with 3 Telephone boxes built from salt bleached driftwood, to include skype. Business and private travellers alike have everything they need including a printer located in a rusty metal cage - the 'Radio Room'‚ a communication point for a new breed of business traveller.

The 'Hafen Sauna' is on the rooftop built within a rusty container with panoramic views over the industrial harbour. It is the furthest from wellness that one could imagine. Fitness is achieved by punching a boxing bag and sit-ups on a specially designed seat from Stephen Williams has the roughness a sailor would appreciate. Not only that it is not protected from the Hamburg weather but even the showers are outside.

The ground floor, with discrete lobby, restaurant, bar and shop presents a comfortable version of harbour living, and is the hub of the hotel. It is a public space of inclusivity that invites guests or non-guests to stay and drop in.

There is no fear of being asked by some stiff concierge if you need any help, the buzz of the lobby is a democratic coming and going of all types, the staff in Breton shirts and red neckties augmenting a space with no sign of cliche. Furniture chosen by Connie Kotte  has the patina of years which makes it seem as this industrial space has been there for ever. The import export warehouse has become the living room in the Harbour city but here people are the commodities coming in and going, as it would seem with the natural elements of wind and tide.

Hapag-Lloyd, Hamburg's well known shipping company kindly donated a shipping container which forms one of the conference rooms and overspill from the restaurant for larger groups. The movable container wall hoisted up to the ceiling to allow access, a reference to the nearby container cranes in constant movement.

Every seafarer longs for home: HEIMAT Küche + Bar is the restaurant of the hotel (in German 'Heimat' means 'Home') in an elegant industrial aesthetic. Warehouse shelves, rough wooden boxes, floor markings, stacks of oriental carpets and an eclectic range of maritime finds are not decorative but usable storage space for this multifunctional room. Furniture which can be stored, moved around and configurated when wished. Floor markings give an order to many different seating typologies.

"We want to create a space of cultural relevance", summarizes Stephen Williams. "That for me is linked to the understanding of social structures and how people define themselves within space and how they relate to each other. I would term it 'designing the invisible'  - spaces, not objects, provide the framework essential to influence human behaviour. Objects are just like characters in the script, they are not the story itself. It is the interplay that brings this to life, the context of spatial sequences. To achieve democratic spaces where everyone can feel comfortable and be who they are is worth achieving. Then we have created the true living room of the Harbour city.

Architecture can only be the backdrop for human activity and not an end in itself.The 25hours Hotel Hafencity is a place to interact, explore and to be oneself. And like all journeys the discovery of something new. A destination to be and start exploring by yourself."

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