A 3D overview of Hamburg’s future

I’ve never understood the attraction of the cutesy miniature models of towns and villages however, I am fascinated by representations of the places I know.

These include the photo printed onto the flooring in the basement of the GLA building, the home of London’s government. Part of the attraction, of course, is to locate your own home - and possibly to decide where you’d really like to live if money were no object. However, you can walk the Thames without getting your feet wet and plan a bike tour seeking out routes along green corridors and through parks.

I’m a regular visitor to The Building Centre in London for its exhibitions. But while there it’s almost obligatory to have (yet) another look at the 1:1500 scale model in the main gallery. It was built to illustrate actual and proposed planning submissions, including the area being developed for the Olympics in London in summer 2012.

I was pleased to learn from a colleague that Hamburg has such a scale model, too, and on a day when it was raining so hard that I didn’t even think about getting there by bike, I went to have a look.

The ‘Stadtmodell Hamburg’ is impressively large. I could have done without the radio playing English language hits of the 70s and 80s loudly but I did appreciate the chance to use the toilet for free (I must have spent a fortune in 50 cent pieces for using the facilities in the city and surrounding area). Plus, by looking at the scale model, I was also able to work out where I had gone wrong when trying to cycle to a couple of places round town.

However, as with the London model, the point of this exhibit is to show existing buildings plus those which are planned. For example, you can see the extent of the area known as HafenCity which is under construction. You can also see its proximity to the main station and the central shopping area of Hamburg and understand why the city’s authorities and the developers consider it to have great potential.

On the walls around the model are information boards providing key facts about the city and its inhabitants. You can read such details as how much of Hamburg’s surface area (755,2 km3)comprises water (8%). However, such figures make much more sense and impact when you can ‘see’ what they mean, and, in this case truly appreciate why German's second largest city is known as the "green metropolis on the waterfront".

Until 31 October, there is also information about the Emporio development in the centre of Hamburg by Union Investment Real Estate AG [then search the site for ‘Emporio’ to get more information in English], which is due to be completed in 2011.

Much is made of the sustainable aspects of the conservation of the existing building and of the construction of a sister structure. The display boards explain how the exterior of the existing building, was built for Unilever in the early 60s and is listed, will be retained. They set out the sustainability criteria the redevelopment of the site has to meet and how this will be achieved.

The wall panels explain why so much is made about the importance of sustainable building practices. "In the area of sustainability, the construction industry has a special responsibility. More than half of the world's energy - and resources - as well as 60% of all waste materials result from the construction and subsequent use of buildings."

The exhibition is definitely worth a visit, even in good weather.