Hamburg, Germany – The story behind Hafencity is pretty interesting; about 10 years ago, the city of Hamburg decided to construct on 400 acres of docklands, a new commercial, residential, and recreational district. The move was intended to increase the size of the city and show off its new glass towers, which were meant to replace the old port warehouses.

While I was in Hamburg, a lot of the locals told me I should explore HafenCity. I asked those same people, “What was there to do?” The unanimous response that I received was, “Nothing, it’s just a really cool looking area with a lot a of nice architecture.” Curious, I tried imagining what it would look like. I figured I had seen something like it before. You know, that new district, with gleaming condos, and snazzy office buildings. But holy shit was I ever off.

I was inspired from the second I entered it’s modernistic surroundings. I saw buildings built in ways I had never seen them before. Apartment buildings with jagged, terraced exteriors; an office building built like a ship, and a lopsided wavy philharmonic building with frosted glass for windows. Sounds farfetched right? Well, it isn’t. The district was also built over a watery area. So there’s a bunch of cool looking waterways. Nothing that rivals Venice or anything, but it’s still pretty damn impressive.

Personally, I love visiting places like Hafencity. Places that go beyond the imagination and have some creativity imbedded in them. I find it revitalizes the mind and it allows my imagination to take flight. So yeah, there might not be much to do in Hafencity. But that’s not why you come here; you come here to be inspired by all the architectural trophies.

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All pictures taken by Duane Bobbsemple for truevagabond.com