spheres, media façades for the new bmw museum, 08

the new BMW museum is modelled after a city space with seven buldings surrounding a central plaza. As a museum of mobility, the challenge was to create a dynamic environment for this place.

dynamic architectural forms are commonly used to create a feeling of motion in space.
the approach here was to transform the surface of the building into a mediatecture, based on the means with the highest dynamic impact on human perception: the moving image.
it was clear from the outset that the surface is not seen as a giant screen but primarily as a dynamic facade.
to achieve this transformation from a screen based video surface to a dynamical architectural surface all 700 square meters of the walls are completely covered with monochrome white LEDs. the LED layer is then covered with opalescent glass, hiding the technology and bringing familiar facade elements to the foreground.

on one hand this mediatecture expands the space through moving threedimensional images, but it also sets the exhibited, "parked" cars into relative motion. The animated reflections on the cars surfaces also add to the sense of movement in the space.

the facades are illuminated with both abstract and figurative motifs. furthermore, when switched to reactive mode, the visual patterns react to the visitors' motion through the space with the help of a camera tracking system, suddenly making them active participants in the scenario.
around 20 different illuminations are creating an environment that conjures up an atmosphere of technological and yet poetic and emotional dimensions.

the project was commissioned by the new bmw museum munic and realized in conjuction with my friends and colleagues at artcom. special mention: gert monath, dennis paul. in colaboration with atelier brueckner (architects and szenographers of the musem) and G-lec (LED supplier and montage)