The Heinemann Group, originally founded in 1879 as a shipbuilding company, is now a duty-free chain present in numerous international airports. In 2013, a decision was taken to extend the company's branch in HafenCity, Hamburg, and a competition was launched to extend the two existing warehouses with a third building to create a combination of 19th, 20th and 21st century architecture. The von Gerkan, Marg and Partners studio (GMP) won the competition with a design that was chosen for its ability to create a meaningful relationship between the new building and its historical context.
The Heinemann building's main feature, in fact, is its relationship with water because the company's history has always been connected with water. The new complex also blends with the surrounding buildings thanks to the way it restyles typical architectural features like its vertical facade, attractive brickwork, large windows and the historic goods loading openings in the old warehouse buildings.
The desire to create a sense of continuity with the surrounding context is also the driving force behind the lighting design created by Schlotfeldt Licht. The decision not to illuminate the entire facade is a good example of this, as that would have given the building too much emphasis. Instead, its structure is highlighted by illuminating the frames of the large windows with recessed Linealuce mini luminaires fitted with spot optics. These devices succeed in emphasizing the building's vertical design and volume indirectly.
Inside the building, as requested by the customer, the spatial layout has been deliberately designed to be as flexible as possible, and new divisions can be created at any time thanks to a series of mobile partitions. In all the environments, white dominates along with warm honey-coloured parquet flooring and wooden handrails. The office lighting is based mainly on the natural light that floods in through the large windows. At night, artificial lighting distinguishes between transit and relaxation areas that are lit discreetly with different sized recessed
Laser Blade luminaires of different sizes and pendant
IN30 devices. The main lighting element used for areas with work stations is the
iPlan standard lamp., This luminaire is ideal for environments where people work with video screens (UGR<19), thanks to it direct and indirect light performance and it also fully complies with Tom Schlotfeldt's vision of adding a sense of atmosphere by means of a subtle interplay of light and shadow.