This photographic image was taken in the port city of Hamburg on 24 April 2017 with the Nikon D90 (Nikkor lens 80.0 - 200.0mm f/2.8).
The Elbphilharmonie (also known as Elphi for short) is a concert hall in Hamburg that was completed in November 2016. It was planned with the aim of creating a new landmark for the city and a "cultural monument for all". The 110-metre-high building in the HafenCity district is located on the right bank of the Norderelbe at the tip of the Großer Grasbrook between the mouths of the Sandtorhafen and Grasbrookhafen harbour basins. It was built incorporating the shell of the former Kaispeicher A (built in 1963). A modern superstructure with a glass façade was placed on top of this base, which is supposed to be reminiscent of sails, water waves, icebergs or a quartz crystal. The location at Kaiserhöft is characterised by the former industrial use of the harbour and the neo-Gothic brick architecture of the Speicherstadt.
The Elbphilharmonie stands on the former Kaiserhöft, which was created by straightening Johns' Corner in 1865 in the course of the harbour construction measures to create an open tidal harbour. On this quay tip between Sandtorhafen and Grasbrookhafen, the then water engineering director Johannes Dalmann built the Kaiserspeicher am Kaiserkai in 1875, which was renamed Dalmannkai in 1893. The west tower with its time ball was the harbour's landmark for a long time. During the Second World War, the main building was badly damaged, only the tower remained intact.
In 1963, the ruins were blown up. Between 1963 and 1966, Kaispeicher A was built according to designs by Werner Kallmorgen. It is an example of post-war modernist architecture in Hamburg. The building was used to store cocoa, tobacco and tea. The three half-portal cranes at the east end of the Elbe quay, renovated by a group of friends, are quasi-witnesses to this period.
"For me, photography feels like really capturing the moment - like a kind of alchemy where time is physically captured."
Silva Wischeropp was born in the Hanseatic city of Wismar in the former GDR. Today she lives and works in Berlin. As a passionate travel..
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