Born in Hamburg-Altona in 1902, the architect Werner Kallmorgen studied civil engineering and architecture at the Technical Universities of Munich and Dresden from 1919 to 1924. In doing so, he followed in the footsteps of his father Georg Kallmorgen, who was an architect and Altona's Senator for Construction at the time. After completing his studies, Werner Kallmorgen initially worked as an independent architect; later he played a key role in the reconstruction of Hamburg's Speicherstadt warehouse district. His no-nonsense, modern and simple architectural language was particularly influenced by the last Bauhaus director Mies van der Rohe. Werner Kallmorgen is known, among other things, for his cityscape-defining building ensemble on Spiegel Island in the Hamburg-Altstadt district, consisting of two high-rise buildings and a two-story canteen building.