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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 was is the nerve center for BMW's new $1.55 billion complex built to manufacture the BMW 3 Series Vehicle.

Concept
The BMW 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 sqft), the paint shop (270000 sqft), and the final assembly hall(1075000 sqft). The competition was for the design a 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 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 BMW 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. Matte Truco and the AEG Turbine Factory in Berlin by Peter Behren's. The BMW Central building is a 270000 sqft foot facility that makes up only 250000 sqftof the 540 acre 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 cars 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 fram construction. The facade is clad in the simple materials of corregated metal, channel glass, and glass curtain walls

Diagrammatic Plan Of BMW Central Building and Surrounding Productions Sheds

Quick Facts

 * Building Name: BMW Central Building
 * Location: Leipzig, Germany
 * Client: BMW AG, Munich, Germany
 * Architect: Zaha Hadid
 * Building Footprint: 250000 sqft
 * Total Area: 270000 sqft
 * 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