BMW Revs Up its Museum

BMW Museum predicts 400,000 visitors annually.

By Alison McCloud

Think of all the icons of 90 years of BMW history: The best-selling, award-winning 3 Series. Advanced engine technology. The BMW 328 driven by Ernst Henne, “the fastest man alive” in the 1920s and ’30s, who set a total of 76 land speed world records driving both BMW motorbikes and cars. Icons of BMW history like the cute egg-shaped Isetta, the original bubble car, and the BMW 2002. Powerful BMW motorbikes. The M models, series production cars (albeit a small, exclusive series) with powerful engines based on BMW Motorsport technology. You can see all these and more in the new, greatly expanded BMW Museum in Munich where more than 120 exhibits cover nine decades of BMW history.

Revamped and amped up
There has been a museum on the BMW site in Munich since 1973. After being closed for approximately two and a half years for renovation, the new, second generation BMW Museum was opened to the public in June 2008. The original museum in the “Museum Bowl”, a landmark of Munich architecture since 1973, has been enlarged by incorporating the adjacent “Four Cylinder” building, also built in 1973, which was previously used as a conference area, cafeteria and garage. The new exhibition area is 53,800 square feet, 43,000 square feet larger than the old museum. The flat western section – the Four Cylinder building – is now used for the permanent exhibition. Regularly changing temporary exhibits are located in the original Museum Bowl.

There was no actual new building involved in the renovation, but the architects had to meet the challenge of combining two unique historic buildings into a cohesive whole. The original Museum Bowl is not just an iconic landmark in Munich; protected by the German Monuments Act, its external look could not be changed during renovations.

New concept in innovative museum design
The museum has been designed to reflect the urban environment of the surrounding area, with streets (a bitumous floor), squares, bridges and houses. A seamless system of ramps leads the visitor through 125 exhibits in 25 exhibition areas. Modern facades, networked paths and interesting perspectives create an appropriate background to the exhibits, from historic BMW cars and motorbikes to a futuristic hydrogen-powered concept car.

Public favorites include the egg-shaped Isetta, the BMW 2002,
the BMW 328 and the BMW 505.

The modern concept of museum design “mediatecture” includes a futuristic surface consisting of more than 7,000 sq ft of LED surfaces and 1,765 million light-emitting diodes, illuminating the facades of the exhibition “Houses”. Film sequences and images illustrating the “sheer driving pleasure” of BMW are shown on these facades.

In the “Acousmonium”, a unique sound area, visual impressions are underscored through ambient, barely perceptible acoustics giving a modernistic, sci-fi effect.

A house for all interests
The 25 exhibition areas are divided into seven interacting themes, known as “Houses”, each with its own unique design: design, technology, model series, company history, motorsport, history of the motorcycle and the BMW brand. Each house is subdivided into rooms; for instance the Technology House is subdivided into Engines, Lightweight technology and Aerodynamics.

Visitors can choose to join a guided tour – the best option for the enthusiast to learn more, which takes around an hour and a half to two hours – or they can wander around on their own on a self-guided tour. At the end of the tour, at the top of the Museum Bowl, a panorama covering 360°, 394 feet long and 20 feet high, allows for the presentation of films specially produced for the museum.

When you go
The BMW Museum is located right next to BMW Welt, Am Olympiapark 2, 80809 Munich. It is open Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday and German public holidays from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. The regular entry price is €12 per person, groups of 5+ people pay €9 each and families of up to 5 pay €24 for a family ticket. See www.bmw-museum.com for more information.