Nico Joana Weber: Tropical House I-II
Hamburg
Name
Nico Joana Weber: Tropical House I-II
Client
DB Station & Service AG
Program
Art in Architecture
Location
Hamburg
Project
2020
Status
completed
Parcel
–
Area
–
Footprint
–
As part of Deutsche Bahn’s Smart Cities Program, we were entrusted with the social activation of Dammtor Station. Its transformation into a so-called „third place“ was completed in fall 2021 in time for the ITS World Congress on Mobility.
The heritage-listed station, elevated above the urban fabric, features a concourse at street level and is set entirely in green surroundings—between Moorweide Park to the north and the Planten un Blomen botanical garden to the south.
The combination of the reception building and station hall includes four tracks on two central platforms, covered by an Art Nouveau-style hall structure, partially clad in sandstone. Designed by architect Ernst Moeller, the hall was built in 1903 and measures 112 meters in length, 25 meters in width, and 23.5 meters in height.
Together with Cologne-based artist Nico Joana Weber, we are working in two different areas: the Tiergarten Tunnel, a 36-meter-long pedestrian underpass with access points to long-distance and S-Bahn trains, as well as the linear glass display cases running parallel to it in the station’s concourse level.
Conceptually, this project establishes an associative connection between Planten un Blomen, the botanical garden to the south, passing through the Tiergarten Tunnel, and leading to Moorweide, the green corridor north of the station. This highlights the station’s unique location “within greenery”…
Our color and material concept deliberately references the existing heritage building through complementary colors, textures, and craftsmanship. At the same time, it geometrically and formally transforms these elements, merging them with Nico Joana Weber’s nature-inspired motifs into a unifying alliance. This alliance confidently counters the pressure of ubiquitous advertising and the commercial appropriation of public space with a joyful assertion of difference—one that further enhances and reinforces the station’s distinctive identity as a solitary landmark within greenery.
Nico Joana Weber’s large video installation in the pedestrian tunnel and platform is titled „Areas of Selected Orders.“
Her work in the two glass display cases in the station’s concourse level is titled „Tropical House I / II.“
