Ecumenical Forum Hafencity

Slightly dented
In the summer of 2012, the first sacred building in the Hamburg district of Hafen-City was opened. Hafen-City represents one of the most dynamically developing districts of Hamburg, with approximately ten thousand residents and a job offer four times larger (mostly office jobs). Now, it is finally the case that 19 Christian denominations have come together under one roof, and all deserve attention. The Ecumenical Center is part of a still unfinished block construction. On the ground floor, there is a shared chapel, café, and community hall. The first two upper floors accommodate offices, and above them are apartments. The sixth floor houses the city monastery of the St. Lawrence convent, with associated guest facilities.
In the case of buying a used car, the discovery of "Slightly dented!" creates an overall bad impression and significantly lowers the selling price in any case. These shapes are desirable only when dents and bulges are part of the shaping and stabilization, which also applies to car design. However, they are then called differently, for instance, grooves or thresholds. Reactions to the dent/bulge (in German, it has the single term "die Delle" - translator's note) in the masonry of the Ecumenical Forum were similar. They do not detract from the building's value. On the contrary. One of the shapes invites entry to the forum, and according to the method of masonry from glazed bricks, from which a cross is formed, it clearly gives indications of what can be expected inside. One notices the second wave only when looking up at the eaves: it provides shelter for a bell. The third bulge, which is visible from the outside and appears as a dent from the front of the building, indicates the place for an altar niche in the chapel at the back of the house.
In a computer, similarly fluffy facades are drawn very quickly, but the formwork for the 25 cm thick reinforced concrete wall is not so easily done, and building an 11.5 cm thick wall from common brick required significantly more than the usual skill. The result is impressive, especially in the morning when the sun is very low and brings out the three-dimensional relief. Some passersby (most likely architectural tourists) jokingly thought that the bulges were caused by the fact that a rather rough wind blows in Hamburg rather than a gentle breeze. The wind is indeed strong here, and what it can cause can be seen from the side on the cladding of the temporary fire wall, which had to be "sewn" to the house repeatedly to avoid providing any further surfaces for the wind to push against. The focus here is primarily on airtightness rather than beauty – but occasional accidents caused by the wind can create irresistible graphics. Not for long though, as the neighboring house is already starting to be built.