Michael Angel Vazquez
More than a museum
Once inside, the visitor follows a route from top to bottom. Before reaching the upper platform via an unusually long yellow staircase, he is surprised by a series of flashes from image projections of the display elements on the interior wall. These images serve to create an illusion of movement.
From there, a spiral ramp guides you down, from platform to platform, between old cars, motorcycles, racing vehicles and engines; all representative of the wide range of products that make up the heritage of the German brand.
More detailed technical displays are presented in seemingly floating, spherical Plexiglas vessels, allowing you to see all aspects of a thruster, for example. Additional texts explain the historical relevance and technical details.
From top to bottom: After climbing a staircase, the visitor descends a spiral ramp (Provided by BMW)
Cars and motorcycles are not only displayed on the five circular platforms. They are also attached to the wall at increasingly steep angles to represent curves. Narrow window-like slots in the lower part of the outer wall serve as a link to the outside.
The museum's silver, white and dark blue color scheme tries not only to convey elegance and quality, but also to subtly represent the famous colors of the BMW logo, which also appears as a monumental graphic element 40 meters in diameter on the structure roof, visible only from above.
Since its opening, the BMW Museum has seen itself as a place that not only reflects the history of the brand that brings it to life, but also puts the past in the framework of the present and the future.
When it opened, the aim was not to impress visitors with an endless collection of historical exhibits, but rather to captivate them through a lively confrontation with issues related to mobility, communication and structural changes in society.
Credit: BMW
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Redesign and expansion
Between 2002 and 2008, the firm of architects and exhibition designers Atelier Brückner and the media agency ARTE Y COM worked with specialized departments of BMW to create a new exhibition concept that reflected and developed the original principles of the institution.
The lower area of the BMW Museum then increased its space five times to 5.000 square meters, by adding an adjacent low-rise building. Two-thirds of this structure is underground, its interior consisting of seven partially transparent "houses" with three floors, linked by a series of bridges, streets and squares. Each is dedicated to a key aspect of BMW and its product history, with a large central plaza available as a flexible event center.
They currently house the permanent exhibition of the BMW Museum, while the Cuenco Museum shows temporary exhibitions on specific topics.
With more than 500.000 visitors a year, this museum is the second most visited in the cultural city of Munich, and one of the most popular in Germany.
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• Construction (complete exterior): 1971/1972
• Inauguration: May 18, 1973
• Architect: Prof. Karl Schwanzer
• Upgrade Architect: Atelier Brückner
• Design of the extension: ARTE Y COM
• Diameter of the Bowl Museum: 40 meters
• Total exhibition space: 5.000 m²
• Total number of rooms: 25
• Length of the route: approx. 1 kilometer
• Number of samples: approx. 130
• Number of annual visitors: more than 500.000
• Museum hours:
Tuesday to Sunday, and holidays, from 10 am to 18 pm. Closed Monday.
Also closed on the days: December 24 to 26 and 31, and January 1.
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