Architecture Design of BMW Delivery Center in Munich, Germany

April 6th, 2011 - Posted in Architecture Design

Munich BMW Building by Coop Himmelb(l)au in Germany

The BMW Welt building designed by Wolf Prix of the Vienna-based architectural firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, BMW Welt — or BMW World — joins an impressive list of high-profile architecture projects by German car companies in recent years, including Zaha Hadid’s BMW factory in Leipzig and UNStudio’s Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Whether from a passion for well-built machines or a more self-serving interest in architecture’s ability to promote an aura of technological sophistication, the auto companies are underwriting buildings that combine a stunning level of structural refinement with a flair for formal experimentation.

Architecture Design of BMW Delivery Center exterior building

architecture design BMW Event and Delivery Center exterior perspective

Of these recent German buildings, BMW Welt, which opened in the fall, is both the most blatant as corporate self-promotion and the most exhilarating as architecture. Its cavernous main hall is packed with restaurants, a cafe and a shop hawking BMW merchandise. Clients arriving at the main showroom to pick up their new cars are handed frothy cappuccinos and led into a small booth where they can try out the car’s special driving features by computer simulation.

Munich BMW Building exterior lighting at night

Munich BMW Building exterior top view

They then proceed down a grand staircase to a platform lined with BMW cars. As they approach the bottom of the staircase, spotlights light up underneath their car, which begins to rotate on a platform. A young woman sprints over to snap a picture.

car gallery BMW Event and Delivery Center interior

Munich BMW Building interior contemporary architecture

Yet if the experience brings to mind the hollowness of contemporary consumer society, the architecture is more generous in spirit. The building stands at an intersection of busy roadways at the edge of the Olympic park, a short drive from the city center. Just to the east are BMW’s corporate offices, a cluster of cylindrical concrete towers designed by Mr. Prix’s former professor, Karl Schwanzer. The tentlike forms of Frei Otto’s swimming stadium, designed for the 1972 Munich Olympics, are visible in the near distance to the west. more info visit www.nytimes.com