Few auto HQs have the levels of architectural aplomb and visual brand synthesis as BMW\u2019s. It\u2019s half a century since the Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer\u2019s meticulously constructed aluminium-clad BMW HQ building opened in Munich, giving the Bavarian brand a towering symbol of technical sophistication and forward-thinking design.\nOver the decades...
HQ building opened in Munich, giving the Bavarian brand a towering symbol of technical sophistication and forward-thinking design.
Over the decades, the campus has been added to and enhanced, but the central components – the four-cylinder tower and rotunda – have stayed remarkably consistent. Schwanzer won the 1968 competition for the tower with his cloverleaf-shaped design, said to reference the cylinders of an engine. Up until this point, the architect was best known for his work building exhibition pavilions – he designed the Austrian Pavilions for the 1958 Brussels World Fair and the 1967 Montreal Expo. The former structure was demounted and repurposed as Vienna’s Museum of the 20th Century. The complex was built between 1970 and 1972, a swift process for such a substantial building.
The construction process was also novel; the central reinforced concrete tower was built first, with ready-clad floors jacked into place from the top downwards. When completed, the curving aluminium façades towered over Munich’s ring road, just across from the city’s Olympic Park, built for the 1972 games and designed by Behnisch & Partner along with the celebrated structural engineer Frei Otto.
The 101m tower formed a striking backdrop for the Olympic coverage, instantly giving the skyscraper a global audience (even though the Olympic Committee demanded
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