S-KAI

With its variedly designed shape and elegantly structured dark-red aluminium façade the office and commercial building SKAI creates a striking architectural fixed-point in the new quarter 'Am Sandtorkai' at the heart of Hamburg's HafenCity. In order to bring the various functions into a coherent shape and to embed the building into the famous environment in an optimal manner, the architects deliberately designed the compact structure as an S-shape. To the North the thus evolving break resembles the numerous jutties and set-offs of the adjacent row of new buildings along the street Am Sandtorkai. Here, the red color creates a flowing transition towards the brick warehouses of the warehouse district. (text by Robert Uhde-mapolis )