Star architecture projects and the geographies of innovation across the construction supply chain: the case of the Elbphilharmonie

The majority of literature on star architecture highlights the effects that those projects have on their respective cities and that materialize after projects have been completed. Hardly discussed are effects that (a) occur beyond the city boundaries and that (b) are triggered in the development process of such projects, especially effects of the material construction. In this paper, we focus on technical innovations triggered by star architecture and the effects that these innovations generate across the construction supply chain. Looking closely into the process of implementing the glass façade of Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, we maintain that ambitious design forces involved actors in developing innovative solutions to secure the realization of this exceptional design at all. At the same time yet, the ambitious design leads to highly selective processes. First, regarding the selection of involved actors, only a few specialized firms worldwide are able to accomplish the required ambitious design. And second, as in consequence, only these few actors benefit from the projects by accumulating experience, knowledge, reputation and stabilizing cooperation networks. The selectivity also embraces the geography of this ecology as the same networks of specialized firms tend to carry on innovations from star architecture project to another on an international scale.