The Hasselwerder street is only a few hundred meters south of the new starting and landing runways of the German headquarters of the firm Airbus in Hamburg. In 2004, Airbus went public with its plans for the extension of the airfield for what is currently the world’s largest passenger airplane, the A380. The Hamburg Senate feared lawsuits from the house owners due to the noise pollution and prevented this by simply buying up sixty-seven homes in the approach path. The inhabitants moved out with their belongings; only the shells of the houses remained. But the empty shells appear well tended. With their curtains hanging before the empty rooms, propped-up hedges, and swept sidewalks, they look as though an invisible hand makes sure that things are in order every day. And the illusion is no deception. The invisible hand belongs to the Hamburg Senate which introduced extensive measures to maintain the empty houses: “safeguarding existence” and “object protection” have become important buzz words.

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34 pictures of houses and trees. The houses are standing clean and intact in the dim evening light directly on the roadside. The trees look healthy with their green crowns in bright sunlight against a pale blue sky. However, something is wrong here, but what?
Stefanie Gerke reveals it in her essay, that she wrote for the book.
›There is no longer anyone living in the houses on Hasselwerder Straße in Neuenfelde. That is due, strictly speaking, to the geographical location. The street is only a few hundred meters south of the new starting and landing runways of the German headquarters of the firm Airbus. In 2004, Airbus went public with its plans for the extension of the airfield for what is currently the world’s largest passenger airplane, the A380. The mega-liner … was meant to start and land directly over the Hasselwerder Straße. The Hamburg Senate feared lawsuits from the house owners due to the noise pollution and prevented this by simply buying up sixty-seven homes in the approach path. The inhabitants moved out with their belongings; only the shells of the houses remained.‹
Since 10 years, the Senate maintains the artificial idyll, which also includes the trees, planted on the embankment than, ›in order to counteract the departure of the other residents and the downfall of the entire town‹.
W​ith 34 pictures of trees and houses Roger Eberhard created a great book that forces a reflection on the eerie emptiness and discomfort behind the facade. The excellent design by Alexandra Bruns, the special binding and a 140 cm long leporello furthermore make the book a bibliophilic gem.