Speicher XI

The Speicher XI is a large brick warehouse in Bremen’s Überseestadt district. Built between 1908 and 1912 as part of the Europahafen, it originally stored cotton. The building was designed by Eduard Suling and architect Nause, with its 403-metre length making it the city’s second-longest structure. After wartime damage, it was repaired and later linked to the adjacent Speicher XIII to form a single complex. The façade uses brick and plaster, avoiding the historicist styles of older harbour warehouses.

The building now houses the Hafenmuseum Bremen, which documents the port’s past, and the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Other tenants include the Kulturforum Speicher XI, a restaurant, engineering offices and creative firms. The museum occupies the south-eastern end, while the art school fills eight of the building’s sixteen segments. Since 2010 the Speicher XI has been part of the regional Route of Industrial Culture.

Visitors walk along the long brick corridors and see the original loading hatches and stair towers that break up the façade. Inside, the Hafenmuseum displays artefacts from Bremen’s shipping history. The art school’s studios occupy the upper floors, where natural light enters through the segment-arched windows. Outside, the Überseestadt’s reclaimed dockland stretches towards the city centre.