Hamburg warehouse becomes gateway to new worlds

The Virtual Reality Head Quarter in Hamburg aims to become the largest knowledge centre for VR. An ambitious project within old walls.

DIn the place where precious goods were once stored, where it sometimes still smells of coffee beans, cocoa or pepper, virtual worlds are to be created. What could be better than playing with them right at the reception desk? The creators of the Virtual Reality Head Quarter (VRHQ) envisage reception staff sitting on the ground floor of the historic M28 warehouse surrounded by an imaginary waterfall wall.

To the right of the bar, visitors will be able to take a seat in a gondola in which - equipped with the appropriate goggles - they can set off on a virtual zip wire ride over the city. In another area, participants can compete against each other in a virtual game, there will be a bar where people can get together - with or without VR glasses - for a celebratory drink, and just around the corner there will be a small stage for conferences and workshops.

Modernity finds its way into the old warehouse district

Over the next few months, the Virtual Reality Head Quarter will take shape and claim the reputation of Europe's largest centre of knowledge in this field beyond Hamburg's and Germany's borders. Anyone involved in business with virtual worlds will therefore have to come to the Speicherstadt of all places - the place where the foundations of Hamburg's business community are laid.

A historic location reinvents itself - for this reason alone, the M28 is a remarkable place, said Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media, at the handover of the first 4,200 square metres to the Kreativgesellschaft. "Innovative ideas and creative concepts need the necessary space to develop - the Kreativspeicher creates the ideal conditions for this."

Merger of four start-ups and a university

The initiators of VRHQ, the four young companies Noys VR, Spice VR, Spherie and VR Nerds, are setting up a joint work and exhibition space in the Kreativspeicher, where they want to develop new areas of application for virtual worlds and make them accessible to a broad public. This will be complemented by the Digital Reality Research and Transfer Centre of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW).

Source: World