Feldstrasse Bunker

The Feldstrasse Bunker, also called the Medienbunker, is one of the most extraordinary surviving buildings of the Third Reich. The 38-metre concrete cube was built in 1942 as an anti-aircraft tower and shelter for up to 25,000 civilians, completed in eight months by forced labour. Its walls were intended to survive direct bomb hits and have proved so resilient that demolishing it has never been seriously attempted.

In 2019 a five-storey green-tiered hotel and public garden was added on the roof, doubling the height. A 560-metre spiral planted walkway climbs the western façade, free and open to the public, and the top now hosts a viewing platform and a restaurant with one of the best harbour views in Hamburg. The lower floors hold a long-running music school and several clubs.

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A story
The Feldstrasse Flakturm was one of eight giant anti-aircraft fortresses built by Hitler's architect-engineer Friedrich Tamms across Germany and Austria during the Second World War. It is too massive to demolish — the walls are three metres of reinforced concrete — so since 1990 it has slowly been colonised by music studios, advertising agencies, the Übel & Gefährlich club on the top floor, and most recently a green-walled rooftop hotel.