When the IBM skyscraper was inaugurated on Hamburg's Ost-West-Straße in 1967, the 17-storey building by architect Werner Kallmorgen was a utopian symbol of technological progress. A characteristic element is the strictly symmetrical façade, which is reminiscent of a Hollerith punched card, thereby establishing a clear link to the early Computer Age. Two years later, the site finally became a defining feature on the skyline with the completion of the directly adjacent Spiegel publishing house (also designed by Werner Kallmorgen), an architectural icon not least due to its ultra-modern interior by Danish designer Verner Panton.

After the two companies moved out of the area, “Spiegel Island” stood empty for a few years from 2011.
Since then, the inner-city “Hamburg Heights” district has been constructed on the 7700 m2 site. Developed by Hochtief Projektentwicklung GmbH and with all sections designed by Hamburg-based architectural office Winking+Froh, the building ensemble allows for the significant densification of the site and incorporates three new base constructions in addition to the two renovated office high rises. With the project “Hamburg Heights 3” (Adina Apartment Hotel) the ensemble is framed to the north, while “Hamburg Heights 4” (Premier Inn Hotel) and “Hamburg Heights 5” (residential building with 49 units), which have since been completed, round off “Spiegel Island” on the southern and eastern sides.

The Spiegel publishing house, which was renovated in line with listed building regulations and awarded the Gold German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) seal for sustainable building, has been home to an area of 8100 m2 of flexible office space since 2016. The IBM building (“Kallmorgen Tower”), which underwent an equally extensive renovation, houses one of Germany's largest co-working centres across an area of 7500 m2.

Also already completed and opened in December 2017, the Adina Apartment Hotel with its 100 metre-long perimeter development rounds off the district to the north towards Willy-Brandt-Straße. Across eight storeys, there are 202 individually designed studios and apartments with a warm, relaxed atmosphere as well as multi-use event rooms, a restaurant and a swimming pool. On the outside, the newbuild is characterised by its generously glazed modular façade which is only interrupted by the intermediate floors and which reflects the two high rise buildings in the strict symmetry of its design concept. Through the interplay of old and new, a homogenous architectural appearance is created.

To allow the hotel to be completed as soon as possible whilst ensuring a smooth logistical transition for subsequent building activities at Spiegel Island, the building shell was erected using an intelligent combination of prefabricated, semi-prefabricated and in-situ methods of construction in a record time of 15 days for each storey.
Once the building shell work was finished, the next step was to build the façade. In order to meet the requirements for high levels of sound reduction and optimum thermal insulation, as well as maintaining a uniform appearance which also allowed the installation of window vents, the newly developed Schüco FWS 60 CV façade was used – and is currently being installed on the other two newbuilds on-site as well.
One special feature of the system is that, with a face width of only 60 mm, the fixed fields and opening units are indistinguishable from the outside. And on the flush-fitted interior side, the window vents are only betrayed by a narrow shadow gap and the window handle.

To ensure building progress was rapid and cost-effective, the system was designed using partially unitised ribbon windows with two, three, four or five axes incorporated in a steel frame:
Based on an axis dimension of 1300 x 2200 mm, units with a length of up to 6500 mm were created.
On the building site, cranes were used to help mount units weighing up to 1000 kilograms on a steel substructure that could be adjusted in three dimensions and that was fixed to a building structure. Depending on the desired level of transparency and ventilation options, units with opaque and transparent fixed fields and corresponding bottom-hung vents were used. All of the units were designed with triple glazing, except for the vents which had integrated special profiles for double glazing, so that the vents were easier to operate. In some areas, improved natural ventilation was ensured with installation of the Schüco AWS 114 parallel-opening window, which blends in seamlessly with the existing façade appearance.

The elevated base storey of the hotel building displays a different design. Here, the FWS 60.HI mullion/transom construction was implemented with 1300 x 3400 mm triple-glazed units. For the windows, insert units from the AWS 90.SI+ series were integrated, and single and double-leaf doors from the ADS 90.SI series were also used.
A special feature is the concealed ZIP awnings in the top point of the construction which can be operated in all wind conditions by means of an innovative zip method. Despite high-quality technology, a homogenous façade appearance is still achieved without any disruptive elements, thereby integrating seamlessly into the overall architectural style of the area.