BMW Central Building
Encyclopedia
The BMW
Central Building Located in Leipzig, Germany was the winning design submitted for competition by Pritzker Prize
winning architect
, Zaha Hadid
. The central building is the nerve center for BMW's
new $1.55 billion complex built to manufacture the BMW 3 Series Vehicle
.
factory plan, prior to the design and build of the central building, existed as three disconnected buildings, all of which holding an integral part in the production of the BMW 3 Series
vehicles. These three production buildings were designed in house by BMW's
real estate and facility management group separately housing the fabrication of raw auto bodies (645000 square feet (59,922.5 m²)), the paint shop (270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²)), and the final assembly hall(1075000 square feet (99,870.8 m²)). The competition was for the design a centralized building to function as the physical connection of these three buildings. It also needed to house the administrative and employee needs spaces. Hadid's
design took this idea of connectivity and used to inform every aspect of the building. The building serves as a connection for the assembly process steps and the employees. Designed as a series of overlapping and interconnecting levels and spaces where, the informing idea was to blur all separation between any one part of the complex and another and create a level ground for both the blue and white collar employees, the visitors, and the cars.
jury chose the very innovative design of Zaha Hadid
for the final piece of the BMW plant in Leipzig Germany. With no real precedent for her design, Zaha Hadid's Central Building can only be related to the revolutionary and monumental industrial designs of the past including Fiat Lingotto Factory
by G. Matté and the AEG Turbine Factory
in Berlin
by Peter Behrens
. The BMW
Central building is a 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) foot facility that makes up only 250000 square feet (23,225.8 m²)of the 540 acres (2.2 km²) campus. Serving 5,500 employees, the building functions as the most important piece of the factory as it connects the three production sheds. Each day, 650 BMW 3 Series
sedans pass through the Central Building on an elevated conveyor as they move from one of the three production sheds to the next. Dim blue LED
lights up light the vehicles as they become more and more complete each time they exit one of the sheds. These conveyors not only take the vehicles from one production shed to another, but do so directly through all of the functional spaces of the Central Building. The offices, meeting rooms, and public relations facilities are all inhabited by these elevated conveyors, which creates an interesting relationship between the employees, the car
s and the public. Not only is the Central Building an office building and public relations epicenter for the factory, it is also a very important piece of the production process at the factory. All of the load-bearing walls, floors, and office levels are of cast-in-place concrete
while the roof structure is of a structural steel beam and space frame construction. The facade is clad in the simple materials of corregated metal, channel glass, and glass curtain walls
The buildings has received numerous architectural awards, including a 2006 RIBA European Award and a shortlisting for the Stirling Prize
.
Diagrammatic Plan Of BMW Central Building Productions Sheds
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
Central Building Located in Leipzig, Germany was the winning design submitted for competition by Pritzker Prize
Pritzker Prize
The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually by the Hyatt Foundation to honour "a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built...
winning architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
. The central building is the nerve center for BMW's
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
new $1.55 billion complex built to manufacture the BMW 3 Series Vehicle
BMW 3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...
.
Concept
The BMWBMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
factory plan, prior to the design and build of the central building, existed as three disconnected buildings, all of which holding an integral part in the production of the BMW 3 Series
BMW 3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...
vehicles. These three production buildings were designed in house by BMW's
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
real estate and facility management group separately housing the fabrication of raw auto bodies (645000 square feet (59,922.5 m²)), the paint shop (270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²)), and the final assembly hall(1075000 square feet (99,870.8 m²)). The competition was for the design a centralized building to function as the physical connection of these three buildings. It also needed to house the administrative and employee needs spaces. Hadid's
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
design took this idea of connectivity and used to inform every aspect of the building. The building serves as a connection for the assembly process steps and the employees. Designed as a series of overlapping and interconnecting levels and spaces where, the informing idea was to blur all separation between any one part of the complex and another and create a level ground for both the blue and white collar employees, the visitors, and the cars.
The Building
From a pool of 25 international architects , the BMWBMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
jury chose the very innovative design of Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
for the final piece of the BMW plant in Leipzig Germany. With no real precedent for her design, Zaha Hadid's Central Building can only be related to the revolutionary and monumental industrial designs of the past including Fiat Lingotto Factory
Lingotto
Lingotto is a district of Turin, Italy, that named the Lingotto building in Via Nizza, which once was a huge automobile factory, constructed by Fiat. Built from 1916 and opened in 1923, the design was unusual in that it had five floors, with raw materials going in at the ground floor, and cars...
by G. Matté and the AEG Turbine Factory
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in 1883 by Emil Rathenau....
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
by Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens was a German architect and designer. He was important for the modernist movement, as several of the movements leading names worked for him when they were young.-Biography:Behrens attended the Christianeum Hamburg from September 1877 until Easter 1882...
. The BMW
BMW
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
Central building is a 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) foot facility that makes up only 250000 square feet (23,225.8 m²)of the 540 acres (2.2 km²) campus. Serving 5,500 employees, the building functions as the most important piece of the factory as it connects the three production sheds. Each day, 650 BMW 3 Series
BMW 3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...
sedans pass through the Central Building on an elevated conveyor as they move from one of the three production sheds to the next. Dim blue LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
lights up light the vehicles as they become more and more complete each time they exit one of the sheds. These conveyors not only take the vehicles from one production shed to another, but do so directly through all of the functional spaces of the Central Building. The offices, meeting rooms, and public relations facilities are all inhabited by these elevated conveyors, which creates an interesting relationship between the employees, the car
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s and the public. Not only is the Central Building an office building and public relations epicenter for the factory, it is also a very important piece of the production process at the factory. All of the load-bearing walls, floors, and office levels are of cast-in-place concrete
Concrete
Concrete is a composite construction material, composed of cement and other cementitious materials such as fly ash and slag cement, aggregate , water and chemical admixtures.The word concrete comes from the Latin word...
while the roof structure is of a structural steel beam and space frame construction. The facade is clad in the simple materials of corregated metal, channel glass, and glass curtain walls
The buildings has received numerous architectural awards, including a 2006 RIBA European Award and a shortlisting for the Stirling Prize
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects...
.
Diagrammatic Plan Of BMW Central Building Productions Sheds
Quick Facts
- Building Name: BMWBMWBayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
Central Building - Location: Leipzig, Germany
- Client: BMWBMWBayerische Motoren Werke AG is a German automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company founded in 1916. It also owns and produces the Mini marque, and is the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna brands...
AG, Munich, Germany - Architect: Zaha HadidZaha HadidZaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
- Building Footprint: 250000 square feet (23,225.8 m²)
- Total Area: 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²)
- Building Cost: $60 million
- Groundbreaking: March 2003
- Completion: May 2005
- Employees in Factory: 5,500
- Program: Control Functions, Offices/Admin., Meeting rooms, Cafeteria, Public Relations
- Parking: 4,100 Spaces
- Total Complex Cost: $1.55 Billion
Time Line
- November 2001: Competition Phase #1
- November 2002: Competition Phase #2
- March 2002: Jury Decision
- August 2002: Design Development Completed
- 2002/2003: Construction Documents Completed/Bidding and Negotiations
- March 2003: Groundbreaking/Construction Commenced
- January 2004: Steel Construction Completed
- March 2004: Building Enclosed
- June 2004: Car Park Completed
- September 2004: Central Building Completed
- May 2005: Landscaping Completed/Central Building Opened
External links
- (n.d.). Zaha Hadid Architects. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from : http://www.zaha-hadid.com
- (n.d.). Zaha Hadid: BMW Central Building, Leipzig, Germany…Amazon.co.uk: Todd Gannon: Books. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from Amazon.co.uk: low prices in Electronics, Books, Music, DVDs & more: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zaha-Hadid-Central-Building-Architecture/dp/1568985363
- (2007, April 4). BMW Central Building. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from Architectook: http://architectook.net/bmw-central-building/
- (n.d.). The Tamed Snake - BMW's Central Building in Leipzig. Retrieved April 5, 2009, from DETAIL.de - Architekturportal und Architek: http://www.detail.de/rw_5_Archive_En_HoleArtikel_5536_Artikel.htm
- (n.d.). Zaha Hadid Architects - Central Building . Retrieved April 5, 2009, from Architecture Online: http://www.arcspace.com/architects/hadid/bmw_central/bmw_central.html