Block L33 – Inconspicuous but with wonderful contents

Though it was designed by the same architects, Warehouse L33 is architecturally much less conspicuous than Block D. The reason: the warehouse can be seen from the port but not from the city. Yet its contents are in a class of their own.

The entire Warehouse Block L consists of six building components called L31–36. The building is being renovated in two construction phases. The first phase includes buildings 31 to 33.

High-quality, flexible office spaces are being built, and there will be room for exhibitions, cultural activities or restaurants on the ground floors.

The space is generally intended to be used for offices so as to preserve the appeal of the old storage yards. However, individual areas can be separated; this will be indicated in the form of non-binding proposals in the design plans.

Main tenant: Miniatur Wunderland

The new main tenant of Warehouse Block L33 is known and loved beyond Hamburg’s city limits: Miniatur Wunderland. Its original building is in Warehouse Block D on the opposite side of the Brook canal.

Now the operators are expanding their exhibition space to include grounds 1 through 4 of Warehouse Block L33. Visitors to Miniatur Wunderland, which will take over the new space from April 2021, will be able to cross from one side to the other on an enclosed glass pedestrian bridge.

Bridge over the Atlantic

The steel bridge over the canal has a glass façade and a metal roof. It crosses from the third floor of L33 with a slight descent to Block D. This new, spectacular connecting element in the Speicherstadt’s structural ensemble thus harmonises optimally with landmark specifications.

For the operators of Miniatur Wunderland, the expansion of the space and the canal crossing represent the biggest adventure in the history of the tourist attraction: a miniature South America is being built in Warehouse Block L33. The first construction phase will cover about 200 square metres, from the Amazon over the Andes and from Rio down to Antarctica. By crossing the bridge, visitors and miniature trains will cross the Atlantic between Europe and the South American continent.

Public at the street level

Beyond its usage by Miniatur Wunderland, Block L33 is also expected to house restaurants, event locations and cultural spaces, so that all three L blocks will be accessible to the public at the street level. The stairwell will be expanded and an elevator for visitors to Miniatur Wunderland will be built, as will a lifting platform for deliveries to restaurants.

Due to the large number of expected visitors, particularly to Miniatur Wunderland, L33 will have a second, separate emergency exit. As in other warehouses, it will lead from the stairwell attached to the outside of the building through a flood-protected escape tunnel in the basement, and back up again to the surface.