The Elphilharmonie on the Kaispeicher in the midst of Hamburg’s HafenCity marks a location that was known to the public but not really accessible. The Kaispeicher was still in use as a warehouse until the end of the last century, while the new building has been extruded from the shape of the Kaispeicher. The broad, undulating shape of the roof rises to a total height of 110 m at the Kaispitze (the tip of the peninsula), sloping down to the eastern end, where the roof is 30 m lower.

In contrast to the stoic brick façade of the Kaispeicher, the Elphilharmonie, clad in variously curved and cut panels of glass, looks like an immense crystal, whose appearance keeps changing as it captures and combines reflections from the sky, the water and the city.