Building the BMW Welt

The latest of a series of BMW buildings in Germany is an architectural masterpiece created out of an integrated design process.
by Ulf Meyer

Cars are a serious business in Germany, especially for players at the highly competitive top tier of the industry. In recent years German car manufacturers have increasingly used architecture to differentiate themselves and to strengthen their corporate identity. The race for fancier building design is particularly true when it comes to visitor centres and showrooms.

The BMW Welt in Munich, Germany, is an example of such a trend. Designed by Professor Wolf D. Prix and Coop Himmelb(l)au, an architecture firm from Vienna, the building is conceived as a ‘place of encounter’ and delivery centre. It is where the thrill and excitement of a premium brand is experienced; cars and motorcycles are presented as well as multimedia presentations and exhibitions on design, technology and innovation. The extravagant BMW Welt transforms the mundane chore of handing over new cars to approximately 250 customers a day into a multi-sensory experience.

The distinctive design of the building is characterised by the dynamically sculpted roof structure and double cone. The 16,000-square metre roof, which stems from the double cone, is carried by twelve hinged columns, creating the impression that it is floating. Made up of an upper and lower level of bearing beams with grid sections, the roof’s upper level is stretched upward like a cushion and the lower level is also contoured. Spacebars connect the two grid levels to form a spatial, load-bearing structure. The façade is a modified pillar/bar system. The glazing is clamped directly on to the bars and bonded in the side joints. The glass has a low thermal transfer coefficient. The floor and some walls also serve to store energy.

The double cone of the atrium extends out of the lower supporting beam holding up the roof and simultaneously serves as one of the roof’s main supports. The visitors’ areas within the roof structure provide special perspectives and sights through openings in the roof structure.

The building is ventilated through its large wall areas and, in part, through cut-outs around the edge of the roof. A further highlight is the passive use of solar energy coming in through the roof and façades. Green surfaces facing the Olympiapark, particularly around the natural ventilation elements, serve to trap dust and provide a cooling effect without any heat transfer. The open style of architecture and the glass façade allow a lot of light into the rooms and open up the building towards its surroundings, blending it with the architecture of the Olympiapark and the existing BMW buildings.

An Orchestra of Collaborators
The BMW Welt is probably the biggest ‘blob-shaped’ building ever built, and it is the result of an integrated design process using building information modeling (BIM). The project was a great challenge for the professionals involved to meet Germany’s high standards of detailing, insulation and environmental friendliness. Architects, contractors, manufacturers and engineers were assembled from the outset; the experts communicated regularly and productively on ways to improve the building‘s performance. In order to find the most efficient design before work started on detailed construction drawings, a holistic design approach was taken. Due to the complex geometry of the architecture, all the engineers had to plan their computer aided design (CAD) drawings in three-dimension.

The BMW Welt building model was tested for climate, energy efficiency, wind, shadows and so on before the final design was decided.

As the BMW Welt is a place where new owners collect their cars, the engineers also had to construct an exhaust mechanism to let out fumes from moving cars within the building. Since the building is largely just one big hall, it was necessary to secretly and discreetly break the large volume down into several fire/smoke compartments. For this, the famous German façade manufacturer Gartner has designed an integrated façade, made up of over 900 different geometric shapes, that contains all heating, ventilation, sprinkler system and wiring. Installed in the roof are 3,660 photovoltaic panels that generate 650 MWh/year. It is remote-controlled and the second biggest in the State of Bavaria. Such features made the role of structural engineers (in this case B+G Ingenieure from Frankfurt) more prominent in this project.

All the experts involved described the design process as increasingly “non-linear” because design proposals are reviewed over and over again by different professionals. The process has thus become more inclusive, collaborative and complex, and although it needs to be more structured, it is ultimately a worthwhile path.

Author Introduction
Ulf Meyer was born in West Berlin. He studied architecture at the Technical University Berlin and the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA. As an author and journalist on architecture and urban design, Ulf has given lectures in Europe, China, USA, Taiwan, Japan and Canada

Image 1 & 4 courtesy of Marco Kany
Image 2, 3, 5, & 6 courtesy of BMW