The Elbphilharmonie was built atop Kaispeicher-A, a warehouse dating to 1875 that stored cocoa and tobacco. The original building had a clock tower and ornate features. In WWII, it was heavily damaged. After the war, it was rebuilt with a simpler, more practical design. Containerisation swept through ports worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. The warehouse stood empty from the 1960s onward.

HafenCity, "Harbor City", is one of Europe's largest inner-urban construction projects, redeveloping obsolete port areas. Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron designed the concert hall. They also created the Bird's Nest in Beijing, parts of the Tate Modern in London, and the Allianz Arena in Munich.

The design was inspired by sailing ships, but most see waves in water. Construction started in 2007 with a 2010 deadline. After missing several deadlines, it opened in early 2017. One problem: systematic flooding.

The area sits outside Hamburg's city walls. The solution was raising the entire district four metres, totalling 8.5 metres above sea level. They couldn't simply lift the Kaispeicher, so they buried the bottom floor and built another on top. You can see slightly different brick colouring where this was done.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours explain the containerisation that made warehouses obsolete, trace Herzog & de Meuron's wave-inspired design, and reveal construction challenges.