Auto Haus

PHOTOGRAPHY ADAM LETCH

In 2015, Boogertman + Partners carried out an award-winning refurbishment of Hans Hallen’s iconic head office building for BMW (SA) on their Midrand Campus, which dates back to 1984/5. BMW (SA) partnered with Boogertman + Partners once again when a large warehouse, used as a distribution centre on the campus, was relocated. At the same time, the existing training centre on the campus required upgrading and the growing IT department (housed off-campus) needed more space.

Boogertman + Partners director Bob van Bebber and design architect Nicola Coetzer formulated a design concept that involved repurposing the warehouse to function as a training centre and IT offices. The existing training centre, a linear building that was part of Hallen’s original design and related to the main circular head office building, has been redesigned to function as a new welcome and brand centre with various staff facilities, including a restaurant and gym.

An industrial warehouse, originally a distribution centre for BMW (SA), has been repurposed to serve as offices and a training centre by Boogertman + Partners. The original structure has been creatively adapted using a system of pods and atriums to create quiet, comfortable, light and inspiring workspaces, while retaining the original character of the building.

The training centre and additional office space for what is generally referred to by BMW (SA) as the “IT Competence Hub” was allocated to the warehouse, which has been repurposed and converted.

The new Training Centre and offices involve inserting useable spaces and structures into the repurposed industrial building, while preserving its original character. Boogertman + Partners devised a system of modular pods and atriums that can be replicated in various configurations under the existing framework. The sides of the warehouse structure were adjusted, but the roof left in place – although sections were removed to create skylights so that natural light could pour into the space and make it more humane and habitable than its original structure.

The original training centre, part of Hans Hallen's historical design, has been reinvented as a welcome and brand centre. The angled canopy at the front entrance delineates key axes in the campus’s urban plan.

The pods are arranged in such a way that each one is linked to an atrium or an outdoor space. “The landlocked pods have an atrium on both sides,” explains van Bebber. He adds that they were also inserted “back half a grid to open up the space more and also get some sun shading from the existing roof”.

The new welcome and brand centre includes a staff restaurant.

The welcome centre connects with the new offices via a raised pedestrian bridge that enters the offices at the first-floor level on account of a three-metre change in levels between the buildings. An overgrown, derelict service alleyway between them has been recreated as a green lung, guiding pedestrian movement and navigating the level difference between the repurposed warehouse and brand pavilion.

Each office module in the former warehouse space is designed according to agile principles in the contemporary working environment in which activitybased zones replace cellular offices.

The interiors of each office pod are designed around the agile principles in the contemporary working environment, with activity-based zones replacing cellular offices. In order to avoid cutting of the existing surface bed in order to install new foundations for the office pod structures, Fortem Consulting Engineers proposed a solution whereby the concentrated loads were spread on top of the surface bed. As the existing surface bed was incorporated as part of the founding solution, time and cost savings were achieved.

The new welcome and brand centre has a flexible interior design inspired by art gallery spaces, so that it can be easily adapted for vehicle displays and exhibitions and events. The current layout is by Make Sense Global.

The new welcome and brand centre retained the structure of Hallen’s linear building, while replacing the walls with glass to open and connect it to the outdoor spaces. The building now functions as the primary visitor entrance for the BMW (SA) campus. The brand centre/welcome centre has been designed along the same principles as a gallery, so that it can be altered to suit the company’s marketing requirements at any stage, including the display of vehicles, motorcycles and museum pieces inside the building.

The new configuration of the buildings within the urban plan of the campus affected all the circulation routes around the campus, so the design involved activating various key axes in new ways. The indigenous landscaping and the walking track permeate through the campus, creating effective linkage between the disparate facilities and a thread of continuity and connection between the buildings.

The training centre includes facilities for training on all new generation vehicles produced by BMW globally, in particular the X3 platform vehicles produced in South Africa.

The end result is not only the cost-efficient and sustainable adaptive reuse of an existing structure, but also a sensitive intervention respectful of the historical character of the warehouse and the pavilion’s relationship to Hallen’s original building. The new way in which the assortment of existing buildings on campus has been integrated, particularly the modular system of pods, means that the arrangement can be replicated and expanded within the framework of the warehouse, parts of which are currently in use as a parking facility, if more useable office or training areas are required in future.

Indigenous landscaping was used to create a green lung between the brand centre and offices, guiding pedestrian movement and navigating the level difference between the two buildings, while a pedestrian bridge creates a direct connection.