BMW Headquarters and Museum Marks 40 Years

Since its official opening on 18 May 1973, the BMW Group Headquarters has become an indisputable icon of architectural history and a permanent feature both of Munich’s skyline and of the company’s corporate image. In spring 2013, 40 years after its completion, a committee of experts voted the building complex designed by architect Professor Karl Schwanzer one of the 15 most spectacular corporate head offices. Alongside the office block nicknamed the “Four-Cylinder”, only one other company headquarters from Germany made it onto the shortlist drawn up by the EMPORIS web portal for building data and construction projects. The BMW Tower and adjoining museum complex not only mark the high point of Karl Schwanzer’s architectural career, they also set new benchmarks in the field of modern office architecture in the early 1970s. The Viennese architect’s design combined an impressive façade with an innovative and flexible spatial concept, and in so doing laid the foundations for a new and enduring architectural philosophy at BMW. In accordance with the “built for communication” concept, Munich’s Four-Cylinder uniquely combines the pragmatic benefits of its administrative function with the aesthetics of architecture.

OneShift Editorial Team

23 Sep 2013

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