The Five Boats is an office building in Duisburg's inner harbor, right next to the Buckelbrücke and the Hitachi Power Office.
The seven-story office building, completed in 2004, was designed by star designer Sir Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners from London. The detailed planning was done by the German architectural firm Bahl und Partner, the project was managed by Kölbl Kruse GmbH, the construction was carried out by Bilfinger Berger AG, and the construction costs were 50 million euros. The requirement was to provide as many offices as possible with a connection to the water. Due to the oval shape of the five individual boats and the fact that they are spread out next to each other, almost all of the offices have a view of the inner harbor or Duisburg's city center. The 35 office floors are all identically cut and modular, allowing for very flexible use. The technical and supply rooms are located in the rear, only six-story cross wings. The total office space is 22,000 m². The tenant is the company health insurance company Novitas BKK.
Retail stores and restaurants are located on the ground floor, covering 1,500 m². There are 175 underground parking spaces in the basement.
At night, the four rear transverse wings are illuminated in different colors using LED technology and shine on the corrugated aluminum surfaces of the boat hulls. The total 660 m² lighting area was divided into twenty fields per connecting wing, the color gradients or lighting moods of which can be freely programmed. The lighting concept was developed by spectral Gesellschaft für Lichttechnik mbH. (Source: Wikipedia)