The BMW Welt is a combined exhibition, delivery, adventure museum, and event venue located in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

's district Am Riesenfeld, next to the

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

, in the immediate vicinity of the BMW Headquarters and factory. It was built from August 2003 to summer 2007. A solar system with 800 kW of power is installed on the roof of the main building. The opening took place on 17 October 2007. The BMW Welt is the most visited tourist attraction in Bavaria.

Operations

BMW Welt operations are coordinated with the other local BMW facilities, the

BMW Museum The BMW Museum is an automobile museum of BMW history located near the Olympiapark in Munich, Germany. The museum was established in 1973, shortly after the Summer Olympics opened. From 2004 to 2008, it was renovated in connection with the con ...

and BMW Headquarters. It has a

showroom A plumbing fixture showroom, Canada, 1921 A showroom, also referred to as a gallery, is a large space used to display products, entertainment or visual arts. Marketing location A showroom is a large space used to display products for sale, suc ...

with the current model lineup of BMW cars and motorcycles, and the other two BMW Group brands,

Mini The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

and

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. Customers picking up special ordered cars are given a dramatic "staged experience" in which they await their new car in an enormous glass-walled hall, and their cars are lifted up from lower levels on round elevator platforms. BMW Welt also has shops selling BMW-branded

promotional merchandise Promotional merchandise are products branded with a logo or slogan and distributed at little or no cost to promote a brand, corporate identity, or event. Such products, which are often informally called promo products, swag (mass nouns), tchot ...

and accessories, and a restaurant.

Design and construction

In 2001, an international

architectural design competition An architectural design competition is a type of design competition in which an organization that intends on constructing a new building invites architects to submit design proposals. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel ...

was sponsored by BMW. Twenty-seven offices participated in the competition four of which were awarded prizes. The jury awarded two offices Sauerbruch Hutton and

COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Coop Himmelb(l)au (A pun meaning ''Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design, and art firm founded by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria in 1968. History Coop Him ...

first prize and made the recommendation for the competitors to rework their design submissions in a third design phase in order for BMW to determine which office would be awarded the contract. The contract was awarded to the Vienna-based architects COOP HIMMELB(L)AU and the facility was constructed from August 2003 through summer 2007 at a cost of US$200 million. Originally conceived to be open and ready for World Cup 2006, it eventually opened on 17 October 2007, and deliveries commenced on 23 October 2007. The first customer to take European delivery of a new BMW at the Welt was Jonathan Spira. There were 2,200,000 visitors during the first 12 months of operation. The number of visitors increased to 2,930,000 in 2013, of which 60% came from Germany. Designed with an 800 kW solar plant on its roof, "the building does not have the boredom of an exhibition hall, it is not only a temple but also a market place and communication center, and a meeting point for knowledge transfer", said architect Wolf D. Prix at the opening ceremony. COOP HIMMELB(L)AU's BMW Welt project records are archived at the

Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; french: Centre Canadien d'Architecture) is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Gallery

File:BMWWelt2.jpg, BMW Welt, 2009 File:BMW Welt, Múnich, Alemania, 2013-02-24, DD 28.JPG, BMW Welt interior, 2013 File:BMW_Welt_Night.jpg, The BMW Welt exhibition center as seen at night BMW Welt, Múnich, Alemania, 2013-02-11, DD 14.JPG, Side view File:BMW Welt Winter2.jpg, BMW Welt at night BMW Welt, Múnich, Alemania, 2013-04-22, DD 05.jpg, Touratech BMW F800GS inside the BMW Welt

References

External links

* * BMW-Welt o
www.muenchenarchitektur.com

BMW European Delivery wiki
on the Bimmerfest.com site {{authority control Buildings and structures in Munich Coop Himmelblau Museums in Munich BMW Automobile museums in Germany Milbertshofen-Am Hart

Operations

Design and construction

Gallery

See also

References

External links