Marvelous moments
A glance into the future: what will a day in 2027 look like?
The Elbtower still captivates you. Working here means to experience a world of your own with services that make your life easier located throughout the building.
Customer contact is still everything – that hasn’t changed in the summer of 2027. Your two clients from Spain landed in Hamburg last night and your meeting with them is at half past nine.
It’s now half past seven and you enter the Elbtower. The whole building looks as if it has just woken up and the lifts are gliding almost silently from floor to floor. The first early risers are already in the foyer, having run the few metres from the S-Bahn to the Elbtower through the morning rain. Once in the entrance, they shake off their jackets and disperse in front of the lifts.
One wave after arrives after another
The first few hours are the most productive. Finally, it’s half past nine: your clients have arrived by taxi and are being brought upstairs by the concierge service. It’s good to see each other in person at last! Everything is ready on the 32nd floor. You open the door via your app and the small conference room in the business centre is perfectly set up. The room temperature is comfortable, as is the light that is falling into the room through the wide-open slats that cover the windows.
Then you present your draft contract and some short discussions take place. In between, everyone treats themselves to the best coffee in town – it’s been prepared by the roasting service on the ground floor and was delivered upstairs. After the financial and technical details have been settled, you and your guests stand in front of the large windows and enjoy the view. On the other side of the River Elbe, on Grasbrook, the cranes continue to spin around. Down below, in front of the Elbtower, people run back and forth between the building and the overground and underground train stations. Bicycle couriers whiz by.
People arrive from the Elbe cycle path, disappearing noiselessly into the bicycle garage. Cars meander down the Elbe bridges into the access road. Your Spanish clients are curious. Could they go all the way up…? They have heard so much about it already…
A look at the calendar and there isn’t much time left before lunch at 1pm. But a short trip to the top should be doable. Quickly, you grab your computer and sign out of the room. The concierge service will take care of cleaning up the conference room.
Later, the lift takes you back down to the lower floors. The foyer is now busy, with people coming and going all the time. In the restaurants and food courts, the staff are preparing lunch – but the Elbtower isn’t hungry quite yet.
Tourists disappear into the bookstore by the large library. A school class stands under the sculpture in the foyer of the Elbower. Displaying varying levels of attention, the schoolchildren follow the teacher’s pointing finger and explanations of the details.
People work in the dedicated workspaces at the back of the business centre. They’re in front of their laptops, they read, talk on the phone. Employees of the Elbtower’s resident companies are discussing projects with freelance teams, you explain to your clients.
Then there are all the cultural opportunities, exhibitions, readings: your visitors are impressed. Unfortunately, there is no time for the gallery just now. But there is still the signing of the contract in a few weeks’ time…
Finally, the lift takes you to the top of the tower in 40 seconds. A promising light shimmers behind the glass doors of the cabin and as you step onto the viewing platform, the sun breaks through the clouds: a summery Hamburg lies before you. Your guests are stunned.
13:00: You arrive on time at Nobu Restaurant for the table you reserved with a view to the east. While the starters arrive, your Spanish guests keep looking out through the windows and over the landscape. Over in that direction, is it the sea? No, you can almost guess it’s Lübeck, Hamburg’s eternal rival, roughly 60 kilometres away. And over there – the green strip, you explain, is the Sachsenwald. Bismarck is buried there…
The main course is excellent as always, followed by dessert and espresso. Your clients would love to sit here all day, but your diary won’t allow it. You have a team call at 3pm, and you won’t get any rest until 4:30 pm. Time to prepare for the big presentation in the basement.
You book an appointment at the gym for five o’clock. Usually, you have a date with the lawyers from the seventh floor on the basketball court at that time. Today, though, you need your favourite machine for a short workout. While you work out, you gaze pensively over the old Elbe bridge, which spans in an elegant arc over the Norderelbe. Slowly your mind empties and you relax – and that’s exactly what you need right now.
A mere twenty minutes later, you’re standing in the office, refuelled and showered. In front of you in the call are your partners, next to you your two colleagues: the design director presents while the team leader for product development comments. Now there’s a short briefing for the presentation happening in just a moment – and off you go downstairs.
From the very beginning, you were fascinated by the spacious rooms on the lower levels of the Elbtower. State-of-the-art technology, elegant design – the developers paid enormous attention to detail. That’s why you’ve booked all your big product presentations at this venue. You know when your event is about to begin that every participant will feel comfortable and both see and hear everything perfectly. Just the way it should be.
20:30: You and your team discuss the event. It was a success and everyone is in a good mood. The in-house app flashes up on your phone: your last appointment. Once again you take the lift to the viewing platform. While the sun bathes the Elbe in golden light, you reflect on the day with your friends. What could be more marvelous than this moment?
