A jury comprising representatives from the city, the Kühne Foundation and external experts unanimously endorsed the design yesterday. The design envisages a stunning opera house with an inviting, fully accessible roof terrace that opens out on all sides towards the River Elbe and into the city. The winning design will now be developed in detail over the next two years, in close consultation with the Foundation, the city and the Hamburg State Opera as the future user. Once this extended preliminary planning phase is complete and a reliable cost estimate has been drawn up, the Kühne Foundation will make a final decision on whether to proceed with the new building. The proposed site is Baakenhöft, situated directly on the banks of the Elbe in HafenCity.
Building on preliminary planning specific to theatre design, the architectural selection process was carried out by Hamburgische Staatsoper Projekt gGmbH. The jury attests that the design by the team from the Bjarke Ingels Group represents a well-considered concept and a convincing urban planning approach. It was described as a “successful symbiosis of ideal conditions for an opera house and an exciting landmark for all the people of Hamburg”. The generous roof overhangs of the façade were singled out as a particular feature, resulting in a cascade of elegant balconies: “In effect, this creates a spiral of roof gardens, which will be planted with native trees, shrubs and grasses and made available to the public as a place to linger. This allows visitors to walk all the way round the opera house to enjoy views of the city, HafenCity and the harbour.” The design is set to become an icon, particularly at night, when its sprawling ‘leaves’, illuminated from below, resemble a blossoming flower.
The architects are delighted to have won the shortlisting process.
Bjarke Ingels, founder and Creative Director at BIG: “The new Hamburg State Opera occupies an island at the heart of HafenCity, flanked by the vertical landmarks of the Elbphilharmonie and the Elbtower. The opera will appear like a landscape of concentric terraces – emanating like soundwaves from a central beating heart of music, expanding outwards into the harbour like ripples on the surface of the sea.
The result is a three-dimensional public park, open and accessible from all sides, with sweeping views in every direction – towards the old city and the new, towards Lohse Park and the Industrial Port.
We are honoured to have been chosen to envision this key element in the transformation of Hamburg’s HafenCity, and we are deeply grateful to the Kühne Foundation for entrusting us with the task of turning their generosity into the city’s new epicentre for the performing arts.”
Dr Peter Tschentscher, Mayor of Hamburg: “The new State Opera House is set to provide the best possible conditions for art and culture and become an opera house of world-class standing. The design presented today showcases outstanding architecture that will shape the city skyline in HafenCity. With the new opera house, Baakenhöft will become an attractive, extraordinary venue for all the people of Hamburg. I would like to thank the architectural firms for taking part in the competition and the jury for selecting the winning design.”
Klaus-Michael Kühne, President of the Board of Trustees of the Kühne Foundation: “My foundation wishes to build a world-class opera house in Hamburg’s HafenCity. We are delighted to be working with the renowned architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) from Copenhagen on this project. Together with the City of Hamburg and the local State Opera, we aim to create a unique venue for all opera-loving residents of Hamburg.”
Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media in Hamburg: “This is a truly powerful design, which finally gives shape to a spectacular idea. BIG intertwines the opera house and the park to form an attractive overall composition. We will be reimagining the Hamburg State Opera for the 21st century and creating a spectacular venue for everyone. I am grateful to the Kühne Foundation for this unique opportunity and look forward to making it a reality.”
Dr Jörg Dräger, Executive Director of the Kühne Foundation: “With BIG’s design, the Kühne Foundation aims to realise an extraordinary building that blends harmoniously into HafenCity, facilitates excellent opera and creates an outstanding venue for Hamburg where the Elbe, the harbour, the city and culture can all be experienced in equal measure. We are now entering the crucial planning phase, in which we must balance architecture, functionality and cost-effectiveness in such a way that we can make a positive decision on implementation by the end of 2027.”
Franz-Josef Höing, Chief Architect of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: “The new opera house at the head of the Baakenhafen impressively demonstrates what architecture can be in this special location: on a grand scale, open, cheerful, accessible, green, striking and yet without pretension. The building presents an equal façade on all sides, and the open spaces by the water promise an exceptional quality of experience.”
Stefan Behnisch, Chair of the Jury, Behnisch Architekten Partnerschaft mbB: “This competition, for such an outstanding and exciting brief, has once again demonstrated that such processes for selecting a design are capable of yielding a wide range of successful solutions. The participating practices have done outstanding work, presented compelling solutions and tackled this difficult task with great commitment. Following the in-person presentations by the practices, thorough examination and discussion, the jury was able to unanimously recommend the winning design to the client for further development.”
Tobias Kratzer, Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera: “A building that opens up to the city across a full 360 degrees; a park that, at literally every turn of its paths, brings the opera into contact with the world and the world into contact with the opera; and a silhouette whose lightness simply lifts the spirits – the Bjarke Ingels Group’s design embodies, in its architectural form, everything that we at the Hamburg State Opera stand for, including in our artistic programme! Having been in post for barely 100 days, I feel not only that I have settled in, but that I have been richly blessed. We are delighted! We are also looking forward to further developing the detailed plans together with the Kühne Foundation and the architects – for the benefit of our visitors and our staff.”
Dr Andreas Kleinau, Chairman of the Management Board of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH: “This is exactly what we wanted: an opera house that combines outstanding architecture on a publicly accessible site with inviting open spaces and diverse vegetation. This venue brings the River Elbe and HafenCity to life for everyone. Going forward, the aim is to work together to integrate these wonderful public spaces even more closely into their immediate surroundings. We warmly invite everyone to be part of this process.”
In February 2025, the City of Hamburg reached an agreement with the Kühne Foundation on the contract for the construction of a world-class opera house on the Baakenhöft site. The plan is for HSO Projekt gGmbH to be responsible for the new building; following approval by the City Parliament, the City of Hamburg and the Hamburg State Opera are to be involved alongside the Foundation. The City will also make the public spaces around the new opera house accessible to everyone. The agreement stipulates that the city will contribute 147.5 million euros towards the costs of constructing the opera house to cover site-specific additional costs, in particular for foundations and flood protection. This amount is capped. The Foundation will cover the remaining costs of building the new opera house. Upon completion, the building and the Foundation’s shares in the project company will be transferred to the City as a donation.
In September, the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg adopted a written motion requesting the Hamburg Parliament’s approval of the agreement. This is currently being debated by the Parliament.
The following internationally renowned architectural firms took part in the high-calibre architectural qualification process, which included a conceptual section on open-space planning, put out to tender by HSO Projekt gGmbH:
• BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Copenhagen
• gmp international GmbH, Hamburg, in collaboration with Diller Scofidio & Renfro, New York
• Prof. Jörg Friedrich | Studio PFP GmbH, Hamburg
• Snøhetta, Oslo
• Sou Fujimoto, Tokyo / Paris
The jury comprised:
• Stefan Behnisch (jury chair), architect, Behnisch Architekten, Partnerschaft mbB;
• Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media
• Dr Jörg Dräger, Executive Director of the Kühne Foundation
• Katharina Fegebank, Senator for the Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture
• Karl Gernandt, Member of the Board of Trustees, Kühne Foundation
• Franz-Josef Höing, Chief Planning Officer
• Dr Andreas Kleinau, Chairman of the Management Board of HafenCity Hamburg GmbH
• Tobias Kratzer, Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera
• Dorte Mandrup, Architect, Dorte Mandrup A/S, Copenhagen
• Karen Pein, Senator for Urban Development and Housing
• Prof. Matthias Sauerbruch, architect, Sauerbruch Hutton Gesellschaft von Architekten mbH, Berlin
• Dr Thomas Staehelin, Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees, Kühne Foundation
• Günther Vogt, landscape architect, Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten AG, Zurich
• as well as three representatives of the Hamburg Parliament.
You can download images of the winning design at www.hamburg.de/oper and use them in your reporting, provided you credit the copyright © BIG & Yanis Amasri Sierra, Madrid, Spain.
From 14 November to 30 November, all designs will be on display at the Kesselhaus, Am Sandtorkai 30, 20457 Hamburg in HafenCity.
Opening hours: Friday 14 November from 3 pm; otherwise:
Tuesday to Friday: 10.00–17.00
Saturday and Sunday: 11.00–17.00
Closed on Mondays
Free admission
Further information on the new opera house can be found at: www.hamburg.de/oper
Media enquiries
Kühne Foundation
Dominique Nadelhofer | Press Officer
Telephone: 0041-79 128 03 27
Email: dominique.nadelhofer@kuehne-foundation.org
Website: www.kuehne-stiftung.org
Authority for Culture and Media
Enno Isermann | Press Officer
Telephone: 0049-40-42824 207
Email: enno.isermann@bkm.hamburg.de
Website: www.hamburg.de/bkm
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