Many food startups face the same problem: there is nowhere for them to develop and test out their ideas, network with fellow entrepreneurs, and cater to their customers. However innovative their ideas are, the space constraints of working from home eventually become challenging.
It was with this in mind that Christin Siegemund came up with the idea of foodlab, a creative food centre with spaces for co-working, a large central production kitchen, a café, and a pop-up restaurant. In 2018, she started looking for suitable premises where she could bring her vision to life.
By chance, we had already got to know Christin at this point, so we were able to help her choose the best space to rent and to evaluate whether the spatial concept we had in mind was appropriate to the premises. With a bit of luck on our side, we pretty quickly managed to find the perfect place for foodlab.
Watermark, a striking high-rise building, sits on prominent site on Buenos Aires Quay in Hamburg’s HafenCity. Visitors can wander along the edge of the harbour, rest awhile on the stepped seating, and enjoy the wind in their hair. The view stretches from Graasbrook to the Elbphilharmonie in the distance.
The rising gradient of the steps and the square is echoed in the impressive full-height interior space at the heart of foodlab. Whatever the weather, visitors can enjoy the breath-taking view of the harbour from the restaurant, café, and co-working spaces.
The various spaces nestling under foodlab’s roof – a café, a restaurant, co-working zones, a photographic studio – differ widely in terms of atmosphere. However, they have one thing in common: they are linked to the tall, glazed atrium, a meeting place for culinary specialists and their customers. The restaurant is located on the level of the promenade, with the café on the upper floor.
The differing spaces are designed to reflect their use as workshops, in which people can devise innovative ideas for food products, try them out, discuss and enjoy them. In line with this concept, we left the walls in a raw and unfinished state. We chose to make the room-dividing panels as transparent as possible, while keeping fixtures and fittings elegant, yet simple. Colour is injected into the building in the form of its users and their customers.
To give a sense from outside of the glowing ambiance that lights up foodlab’s interior spaces, and to lend it an unmistakeable aura, we hung 1,000 felt objects around the ceiling lamps, rather like floating napkins, in the full-height, central atrium. They act as landmarks, adding a magical touch to the space, and improve the spatial acoustics along the way.
The foodlab team had fun folding and hanging the felt objects themselves in a very well-organised joint effort.
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