Zaha Hadid Architects has completed a public-realm project in Hamburg that has created a new river promenade as part of an upgraded flood-protection system.

The Niederhafen scheme, on the Elbe River, delivers a 625m-long run of new public space, with a three-storey restaurant, shops and other public utilities built into the structure at street level facing the city.

ZHA said the scheme’s wide staircases were designed to resemble “small amphitheatres” and had been carved within the flood protection barrier at points where streets from the adjacent neighbourhoods meet the structure.

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