Kaiserspeicher A, a disused warehouse at the tip of Hamburg's historic inner-city port, seems nothing to brag about. Its gutted core surrounded by mounds of earth and its thin brick façade leaning on metal supports, it is as appealing as any other industrial ruin.

Things will look different in 2010, however, when Herzog and de Meuron, the star Swiss architects, lift the veil on the Elbe Philharmonic Hall. With a crested, translucent façade soaring 100 metres above the warehouse shell, it will be a landmark to rival the Sydney Opera House or Bilbao's Guggenheim museum.