I’ve lived in Germany long enough that I’m used to bumping into war-time bunkers and flak towers. Indestructible for one reason or another, these concrete relics have often been creatively adapted to serve modern uses. In my adopted hometown of Berlin, you can find them filled with contemporary art, forming part of residential blocks, and used as climbing walls.
None of these are quite as impressive as Hamburg’s Feldstrasse bunker, though, which I recently visited after its newest development. Located slap-bang in the middle of the city’s buzzy St Pauli district, this 40-metre-high behemoth, built in 1942 using 1,000 forced labourers on the orders of Adolf Hitler himself, served as an anti-aircraft tower, complete with gunners on the top, and an air raid shelter that could hold up to 25,000 people.
Since blowing the thing up would endanger residents, the structure has been occupied over the years instead by a multitude of businesses – including production studios, radio stations, rehearsal spaces, promotional agencies and theatre projects, giving rise to its nickname “the media bunker”.
There’s even a nightclub, called Übel and Gefährlich (“Evil and Dangerous”), which I visited the only other time I went into the bunker. The venue is a stalwart of the local electronic scene, and it was quite something to dance the night away inside a building with four-metre-thick walls; clearly there have never been any noise complaints from the neighbours across the street.
That clubbing visit was back in 2016 and things have changed: notably, the bunker has officially sprouted a brand-new plant-covered hotel, as well as gastro-offerings, a sports, events and exhibition space, and a rooftop park. These new additions, perched right on top of the existing bunker (its other businesses, including the club, remain inside), are centred around the REVERB hotel, a new sub-brand launched by the American Hard Rock Hotel group.
The long-time collaborative project of local investor Professor Thomas Matzen and entrepreneur Mathias Müller-Using has been at least a decade in the making. Its development has involved negotiations with the city government and local council, and was delayed by a couple of additional years due to the pandemic. By the time of opening, the costs had spiralled from an initial budget of €35m to €100m (£83m).
More design-savvy than the commercialised cafes and hotels normally associated with the Hard Rock name, the REVERB is the first of its type in Europe (so far, the only other one is in Atlanta). It aims to be both affordable for guests and a relevant extension of the bunker’s existing creative businesses, giving something back to Hamburg, and especially the traditionally working-class district that surrounds it. To that end, everything but the hotel is open to the public.
That includes the Constant Grind coffee bar, the hotel’s top-floor La Sala restaurant, a dapper small-plate bistro Karo and Paul helmed by celebrity German chef Frank Rosin, a roof garden with a trendy container-style food spot, and a 2,000-seat auditorium that can be used for shows, but also doubles as a sports hall for local schools.
Each of the rooftop spaces, built on top of the former anti-aircraft gun platforms, offer expansive views over the Hanseatic city. The sights span the distinctive TV Tower, the Elbphilharmonie (another landmark architectural project that’s built on top of a warehouse that includes a hotel), the Alster lake, and the crane-filled harbour.
But the biggest buzz for locals is the new 560-metre walkway. Known as the “mountain path”, it wraps around the entire structure. Drawing on The High Line in New York and Rio’s Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, it is free to access. The walkway was busy with selfie-snapping visitors when I opted to use it rather than take the lift – hotel guests only; and yes there is security – to get to my hotel room.
Visitors to the hotel complex or walkway can also look right down on more local sights such as the former abattoir complex that now contains contemporary food halls, the Millerntor stadium, home ground of beloved – and socially-engaged – football club FC St Pauli, and the sprawling Heiligengeistfeld, which hosts the DOM fairground three times a year, as well as other large outdoor events.
These superlative views are available from the hotel’s 134 industrial-chic rooms, too. The rooms come with comfy beds, designer furnishings and windows that open not only onto the surrounding vistas, but also the abundant foliage that’s draped over the hotel’s entire facade. This greenery includes 10,000-plus plants, more than 4,700 trees and shrubs, including apple and pear trees on the roof garden and vegetable plots down at the base. It serves not only as decoration, but also helps to make the project more sustainable by purifying the air and reducing temperatures, hence the new nickname: “the green bunker”.
To measure the precise effects of all the greenery, which is partly maintained by a local non-profit volunteer community called Hilldegarden, as well as paid urban landscapers and gardeners, climate experts at the Technical University Berlin have installed around 80 sensors to collect data.
As well as plant life, a distinctive musical thread runs through the hotel. Electric Fender guitars are available to loan at reception (there’s a soundproof room to twang them in), photos of live concerts and album covers decorate the rooms, there is CD-themed wallpaper in the bathrooms and DJs and live acts in the restaurants.
This is all a nod to the musical history of the St Pauli neighbourhood, which is where The Beatles lived, played and became internationally famous in venues such as the Star Club, the Indra, the Top Ten, and the Kaiserkeller. Some of these places still exist alongside electronic clubs and the slew of new bars and live music venues that have bloomed in the last couple of decades. There’s even an annual Reeperbahn Festival, launched in 2006 to promote local and international acts.
Residents of St Pauli make up Hilldegarden, which was formed in 2015 to organise the public participation process on the bunker project. A number of workshops were held to collect ideas on how the public spaces in the bunker should be used.
The areas that will be run by Hilldegarden have yet to open. They will include an exhibition exploring the building’s history and a space where local groups can meet. Hilldegarden will not have to pay rent for these spaces, although it will be responsible for the utility bills incurred for its parts of the building. Some of these costs will be covered by donations and by the money the organisation makes from tours of the bunker.
Anita Engels, from Hilldegarden, has lived in St Pauli for four years and is closely involved with the community.
“Local people always feel a little bit that too many people will come to the neighbourhood, but there are some clear advantages [to the project].”
The organisation already has a long list of initiatives that want to use Hilldegarden’s bunker space.
Anita adds: “As a resident, I’m very positive about the whole project, in general.
“The bunker was always there since it was built in 1942, it has a very dark history, of course, [but now it has] a peaceful new structure on top, and there’s finally a chance to tell the story of the building.”
As well as bars, live music venues and clubs, St Pauli is well known as Hamburg’s most multicultural and arty district, offering plenty of other alternative attractions. On a walk through the small-but-vibrant Karoviertel (Karo Quarter), it’s hard not to be impressed at how this former slum area is now packed with record shops, skate stores, boutique bakeries and vintage clothing outlets.
I join the crowds, mostly comprised of youthful creative types, browsing the knick-knack and vintage stalls at the hugely popular flea market in the grounds of the former slaughterhouse, grab a table at the artisanal cafe in the adjacent Schanzenviertel (aka the “Schanze”) and watch the world go by, and then stroll along the Reeperbahn. The origins of this street as a den of booze and prostitution for local sailors hasn’t completely disappeared, though these days it feels mostly just a bit tacky, albeit with some respectable music venues, theatres and other commercial entertainments.
I find more sedate pleasures in strolling the lovely Planten un Blomen park and down at the harbour itself – both are a short walk from the hotel. Travel a little further and you can catch a concert at the landmark Elbphilharmonie, find gastro-galore at the new Le Big Tam Tam food hall, and, from October 2024, visit the Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, a brand new mixed-use hub in the new HafenCity area that has a Digital Art Centre and Lego Discovery Centre for families.
As for St Pauli, it is changing all the time, with or without the bunker project, says Anita.
“There are more and more new buildings.
“The street next to the bunker is changing rapidly with tourists coming for vegan and sustainable goods.
“There is commercialisation going on, I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but underneath there is still a good neighbourhood structure,” she adds.
Only time will tell whether the “green bunker hotel” will be happily and fully integrated into its host neighbourhood, but so far its community connections, local accessibility and climate-friendly aspects seem to be already paying off.
Double rooms at the REVERB Hamburg start at €250 per night, excluding breakfast, reverb.hardrock.com/hamburg/.