The Port of Hamburg is a place of global and local connections between water and land – a diverse, networked and constantly changing territory in the middle of the city and the dynamic Hamburg Elbe estuary. For the future of the city of Hamburg and with regard to (over)living, planning and building in times of climate change, the port offers plenty of scope for projects, ideas and design approaches in the age of the Anthropocene.

The exhibition ‘Floating Harbour Laboratory’ curated by Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Antje Stokman, Ursula Richenberger, Dr. Lisa Kosok and Jenny Ohlenschlager on the historic harbour barge ‘Arca Futuris’ as part of the Hamburg Summer of Architecture stimulated the discourse on the port of Hamburg and its role, significance and transformation in times of climate change. The exhibition included student projects from HafenCity University Hamburg, which dealt intensively with the interwoven water-land relationships and the amphibious transformation of the port territory, as well as designing radical, speculative (landscape) futures for various locations in the port of Hamburg. 

The Hafenlabor (‘harbor laboratory’) has introduced visitors to the discourse in various formats – the demands on the exhibition space were therefore diverse: cinema screenings, panel discussions, exhibition, laboratory and a library for children and adults. In order to keep the room flexible in its design, many of the exhibits to be shown were printed on four collaged curtains and stretched diagonally on the outside and inside. The four leading objects of the exhibition were placed as actors on chairs in the entrance area and thus became part of the discussions.