An architecturally expressive and highly choreographed experience for BMW customers, integrating vehicle handover, exhibitions, and public events within a single dynamic environment.
Submitted as a competition entry for a landmark facility adjacent to BMW’s Munich headquarters, Asymptote’s proposal reimagined the act of vehicle delivery as an architectural event — transforming what is conventionally a transactional moment into a spatial narrative where the movement of the automobile becomes inseparable from the experience of the building itself.
Design Concept
In the design, the movement of the automobile is fully integrated with the architecture, serving as an essential part of the interior experience and generating a unique building form that is itself an extension of the BMW brand. The design embodies the sophistication and advanced technological aspects of BMW and incorporates new material technologies developed in both architectural and automotive design, including molded composite materials and compound-curved metal elements.
Program & Circulation
The main building programs consist of the BMW Event Centre and the BMW Delivery Center — two interlocking spatial components that are physically divided but visually connected. Pedestrian and vehicular circulation systems are housed in glass-enclosed ramps that overlap and wrap around these spaces, defining the building’s form and allowing a fluid, constantly changing interior experience. The facility also includes exhibition space for vehicles, prototypes, and technologies, a lecture and performance venue, and branded retail shops.
The Delivery Experience
After a celebratory handing over of the keys in the Event Centre, the new car owner descends to the Delivery Area to take possession of their new BMW. From there, the owner drives their new car down the vehicular ramp, circulating around and through the building, to finally perform a victory lap around the exhibition space before exiting to the street.
Credits
- Architects: Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture, Florencia Maria Pita, Ruth Berktold, Birgit Schoenbrodt, Noboru Ota, Ruth Ron, Renate Weissenboeck, Hannah Yampolsky, Alain Merkli, Moritz Schoendorf
