Knowlton School of Architecture The Ohio State University Todd Gannon, Series Editor
Zaha Hadid
BMW Central Building
Source Books Leipzig, Germany in Architecture
7
Todd Gannon, Volume Editor
PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS, NEW YORK
CONTENTS
Data and Chronology
6
Architect’s Statement
9
Conversations with Zaha Hadid
13
Competition Stage 1
25
Stage 2
41
competition panels
55
Design Development
69
Final Drawings
77
Execution
89
Completed Construction
133
Credits
158
Biography
160
Conversations with ZAHA HADID Compiled and edited by Todd Gannon
Todd Gannon: Bruce [Ferguson, Dean of the
that are very much a part of the modernist ethos
School of Arts at Columbia University] was very
of the assembly line. While at BMW you explore
complimentary during our visit to the BMW Central
both the high functionalism of Ford and the expres-
Building yesterday. He told me it was the first time
sionism of Fiat, you take a different approach.
he had experienced a twenty-first-century space. Lars Teichmann: You are right; it is a different Zaha Hadid: Yes, he told me as well. It is, of
approach. Although BMW is doing serial production
course, a very flattering comment.
akin to the earlier projects you mention, it is serial
I think it springs from the idea that everything
production of a very different kind. If one takes into
moves through the building. The blue-collar and
account all possible options, the BMW 3 series
white-collar workers, the public, and, of course, the
made here can be assembled in 10 x 1017 different
cars themselves all move through the same space.
configurations. This is not the serialized production of
But actually, with its fascination with the car, with
the twentieth century. It is a totally different way of
ideas of movement and velocity, BMW really began
producing, one hundred years from the Fordist ideal.
as a twentieth-century project.
For us, it was important that this difference was reflected in the building.
TG: Yes, but I would argue that your development of those ideas differs fundamentally from the factory
TG: When I look at the BMW Central Building,
aesthetic of the twentieth century.
I see affinities with your recent work in Rome,
Think of the Fiat Factory in Turin or Albert Kahn’s projects for Ford Motors in Detroit—projects
Strasbourg, Weil am Rhein, and elsewhere, as well as to earlier projects such as the Vitra Fire Station CONVERSATIONs
13
LEFT and RIGHT: Car park and terminus Hoenheim-Nord, Strasbourg, France, 1998–2001
and the Hong Kong Peak. How would you situate
interested in ideas of landscape for some time,
this project in relation to your other work?
stretching back to our work in Cologne and at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and later in Rome
ZH: This project is about making space through lines.
and BMW. The idea of the terraced interior at BMW
Like all of the projects you mention, it has to do with
draws on our experiments at the V&A, and perhaps
the simple idea of people moving through a space. In
also from spending so much time at Gund Hall at
each case, that space derives from a linear process,
Harvard. All of these experiences come to bear when
an exploration into the way a system of two-dimen-
one develops a design.
sional lines can devise a three-dimensional space. In addition, we were determined to use engineer-
TG: In all of your buildings I find a very deliberate
ing to create space. Structure in our work is not a
choreography of spaces from the street into the
simple armature to support an abstract diagram; we
building. At BMW, when the landscape forms and
labor to deploy structural elements to heighten spatial
the showroom are completed, you will have con-
qualities. At BMW, a key device is the elimination of
structed an entry sequence that begins well outside
columns. Here, as at the Science Center in Wolfsburg
the proper entrance to the building. Could we talk
(Germany), we worked closely with the structural
about this project in terms of choreography and
engineers to develop nearly column-free spaces.
context?
This, of course, has a profound effect on the spatial experience. Topography and landscape also suggest alternative ways to deal with a large building. We have been 14
CONVERSATIONs
ZH: I think this comes from years of training, of studying composition, figure-ground, urban organization. We have been pursuing this sort of investigation
LEFT: Vitra Fire Station, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1990–94 RIGHT: The Peak, Hong Kong, 1983
for years; it is simply the way we investigate
that the so-called paper architecture of the 1970s
architectural space. From the beginning, we have
arose. That work was very important for thirty years,
been obsessive about diagramming context.
and its influence on the current situation is phenomenal. I think all of this happened because we had lost
TG: Did these obsessive techniques develop out of your education at the Architectural Association (AA)?
faith in modernity. The other reaction to this loss of faith was, of course, historicism. Though many of its practitioners claimed their work to be contextual, it was actually
ZH: There was never a definitive AA technique, but
just pastiche. Our work was a critique of these histor-
these ideas were certainly part of the discourse at the
icist fantasies. Of course, there was also the social
time. For us, context ceased to be about historicism
project, the various drawing projects—these were our
or traditional contextual relationships. It became
versions of contextualism.
critical. This led to a series of advances in technique.
Nineteen eighty-three was the critical year. In
We transformed the figure-ground as a method of
the span of one week, I was awarded the Peak com-
investigation.
petition and Bernard Tschumi won La Villette. At
Also, after the ’68 revolution, things collapsed. It
that moment, the AA’s importance shifted. It was
was at this time that the social project erased the for-
no longer a school that simply produced radical
mal project. That, I think, was the end of modernism.
designs. Its teachers and students were now seen as
When I came to school at the AA in 1972, the
capable of winning major competitions. Of course,
place was antiformal, antidesign. Everything was a
Rem Koolhaas was also very important. His entry to
discussion about the city, and it was from this context
the La Villette competition was a seminal project CONVERSATIONs
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LEFT and RIGHT: The Peak
at the time, even though it was Bernard’s entry that
identity in the U.S., a desire to compensate for a
was built.
perceived lack of history. The response was to adopt
All of that work garnered a tremendous amount
neoclassicism or postmodernism, which was easier.
of press interest. That was the beginning of public
This was a very dangerous moment when rationalism,
interest in alternative fantasies for the city. But the
postmodernism, and classicism converged and
historical project remained quite powerful.
became almost one.
TG: It is still powerful.
TG: Were you reacting directly against these trends?
ZH: Not in Europe. Here, it has vanished. In London,
ZH: Not exactly. In my third year at the AA, I was a
perhaps you see it in a few schlocky developers,
student of Leo Krier. It was then that I realized that I
but in most cases, their ambitions have shifted from
did not believe, as so many did, that the only way to
historicist and vernacular to pseudo-high-tech.
move forward was to go backward. At that time, Krier
It took a long time to develop these projects, sim-
had not yet embraced historicism. But in one year,
ply because there was no work. Through the 1980s,
he made the transition from a modernist/rationalist,
almost all of the available work was commercial—
whom I liked quite a bit, to a full-blown historicist.
there were very few public buildings and very little housing. In this way, I find the U.S. and the U.K.
TG: What happened?
to be similar—the dynamic is driven by economics,
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and the clients tend to be less adventurous.
ZH: I think he really believed in it. Regardless, I had
In the 1980s, I think there was a desire for a new
a very positive experience with Krier. As a third year
CONVERSATIONs
LEFT: Bernard Tschumi, Parc de la Villette, Paris, France, 1983, folly isometrics RIGHT: Parc de la Villette, folly perspectives
student, I was engaged in large-scale urban projects,
In terms of my own work, I would say that after
while most of my colleagues were doing tiny things,
twenty years, an interest in fragmentation gave way
pavilions or whatever. My ambition was to understand
to an obsession with fluidity. The move was not a
the city, to understand urbanism through rigorous
break, but rather a continuous transformation. It was
analysis.
a slow transition away from Euclidean, ninety-degree
During my second year, I studied typology. We would draw obsessively; we produced thousands of typological studies. By the end of that year, I
geometries to other paradigms. I began to develop an interest in linear spaces, but not linear processes. At the same time, I was determined to deploy the
could draw any plan imaginable. This obsessiveness
ground plane as a predominantly public domain.
produced a generation of professionally minded
Over a series of projects, we began to multiply and
students. The work owed a debt to O. M. Ungers and
transform the ground plane, which led to a series
his seminal research on typology. Ungers was
of investigations that had to do with the idea of ter-
also obsessive, and very clear. His work transformed
racing, topology, and landscape.
everything. After Krier, I joined Elia Zenghelis’s studio.
We were attempting to move away from the modernist ideal of a podium and a slab. For us, the
Zenghelis would come to Krier’s reviews during third
surrounding landscape and the inhabited surfaces of
year. He was the only one who understood what I
the architecture were a continuous system. A seminal
was trying to do, so I joined him. I did not yet know
project for us in terms of these ideas was Düsseldorf.
Koolhaas. He had just returned from the States, and
Here, we were obsessed with ideas of continuity
was writing and lecturing about Delirious New York—
and with proposing an alternative to the repetitive
it was an incredible experience.
floors of the traditional modernist office building. Of CONVERSATIONs
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Irish Prime Minister’s Residence, Dublin, Ireland, 1979–80
course, these ideas remain with us, and they are
In a way, the Irish house was a precursor to the land-
present at BMW.
scape projects we have explored since.
These ideas were also present, in a less devel-
Another important drawing was for the Dutch
oped form, in our proposal for the Irish Prime
houses. Here, we were concerned with illustrating
Minister’s Residence. Again, we worked to undermine
nonlinear connections, in developing new ways of
modernist repetition—every floor was different. We
drawing together parts of the city. Though these were
were able to study this by developing what we called
projects for specific buildings, the focus was really on
“x-ray drawings.” These were composite drawings
developing a response to the contemporary city, look-
composed of a series of transparent layers that
ing for new techniques for rebuilding the city. This
allowed one to see everything at the same time. It
was not the tabula rasa paradigm of modernism, but
would not have been possible without having spent
rather a project of juxtaposition and superposition
so much time drawing on Mylar and tracing paper
as methods for inserting new interventions into an
at the AA.
existing context.
We would first draw each component separately and then combine them into a single drawing. We
TG: And at BMW, where you were faced with a
worked to develop new ways of moving through
tabula rasa site, your intuition was to urbanize it.
space: rather than stack staircases as cores—the typ-
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ical solution of modernist building—we would peel
ZH: Yes, but continuity is crucial for a production
the various layers of the project and join them togeth-
facility. You cannot have a factory distributed over
er. This resulted in a proto-fluid organization, a conti-
eight levels. In this instance, we are responding
nuity of circulation that we continue to explore today.
as much to our own obsessions as to the realities
CONVERSATIONs
LEFT and RIGHT: BMW Central Building, interior views
of automobile production. Though the project refers
geneous, continuous materials such as concrete and
back to Fordism and the lineage of the assembly
welded steel; we strove to eliminate as many columns
line, we wanted to create a new field of production.
as possible; and we minimized the number of corners. Further, we attempted to have elements cross
Patrik Schumacher: The byline for BMW could
between levels as often as possible, producing a
be “articulated complexity.” In the building, we
layered space in which one can trace the trajectories
attempt to deploy architectural language and formal
of our initial diagrams through varied elements in the
discipline to organize a series of connections and
project. The eye is drawn along continuous concrete
to orient various flows—of people, of space, of
walls; seamless, welded steel handrails; even the
automobiles—within a very large, deep space. The
conveyor belts overhead. These lines flow in parallel,
ambition was not to invent complexity, but rather
they bifurcate, they travel up and down through the
to make apparent and clarify the complexities that
section, but always tangentially.
were already inherent within the project. We mapped the project’s various flows as a series of linear diagrams. Translated into three dimensions, these linear flows become layers of bifurcating and intersecting trajectories, resulting in a layered space of movement with a strong emphasis on deep visual penetrations. The architecture is characterized by key decisions made early in the project: We employed only homoCONVERSATIONs
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LEFT and RIGHT: MAXXI National Center of Contemporary Arts, Rome, Italy, under construction
One might call BMW a field project. Rather than
and intersecting, and with the spatial experience of
work with a series of segmented, enclosed, and static
moving through them. Conceptually, BMW is very
spaces, we endeavored to provide a continuous, fluid
similar to Rome, though the articulation differs.
space of movement. Here, the eye never comes to rest. As one moves around a corner, new vistas open
TG: In Rome, you appear very deliberate about
up in all directions. In the best instances, it almost
maintaining the integrity of each line. Each U-
gives one a sense of flying.
shaped channel, as it moves along, remains intact.
Such a space calls for a different manner of orien-
At BMW, on the other hand, you seem concerned
tation. In a static, compartmentalized space, one
with breaking down the integrity of each vector to
knows one’s location by memorizing position—now I
create a single, layered space.
am in compartment A, now I move to compartment B. We rejected this kind of spatial experience at
ZH: Yes. Rome is about flooding the entire site with
BMW. Instead, we worked to create a continuously
this system of lines. It is less layered, more about
differentiated space, a space structured by bundled,
how these different strands lay over each other.
converging, and bifurcating trajectories.
At BMW, we are making an office building—the
BMW continues investigations begun in earlier projects such as the Contemporary Arts Center in
space, we were able to differentiate that open space,
Rome and the LF-1 project in Weil am Rhein. Each
to bring a degree of specificity to the open plan. The
of these projects deals with the organization of a
idea is that one can spill through the building and
number of trajectories over different levels, with the
flow into the adjacent buildings.
complexity that arises from these trajectories crossing 20
ambition was to make an open plan. By terracing this
CONVERSATIONs
LFOne/Landesgartenschau, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1996–99
PS: In either project, one will experience moments of
developed, opportunities for programmatic specificity
spatial intensity in zones of convergence and overlap
presented themselves. This is perhaps most apparent
and moments of repose where these bundled trajecto-
in the series of terraces that constitutes the main
ries branch apart. In Rome, we required more quiet
office area. In other instances, a glass wall might
spaces to accommodate the galleries, while at BMW
complete a domain. That space would get a name
we were able to amplify and celebrate the multiplicity
and a discreet function, but we were careful never to
of layered trajectories inherent in the factory and its
interrupt the flow. Our planning strategy, then, was
processes.
never an act of compartmentalization but rather a
These qualities are most intense at the entrance. The vectors from the car park are collected here, then
kind of soft zoning or territorialization. There are a lot of things going on in the factory,
fan out along various paths into the building. Above,
which created a constant struggle against cluttering,
the bridge element counters this inward momentum
against impediments to flow. Much of our work
with a strong cross current.
involved taming the chaos of elements and structures
Of course, all of this spatial agitation must
and infrastructures.
accommodate program, and we endeavored to bring the same organizational principles to the task. To
TG: I think that is not only one of the great
maintain the continuity of these trajectories, the open
achievements of the building, but also its great
office areas were not partitioned in traditional ways
irony. In the initial diagrams, the ambition was to
nor were they treated as a continuous field of undif-
tease out complexity in order to generate a rich
ferentiated space. Rather, we developed alternative
and layered space. This was achieved through the
methods for articulating different areas. As the design
multiplication, transformation, and agitation of CONVERSATIONs
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linear flows. This process transforms a tabula rasa
LT: That is the hardest and most time consuming part
site into a rich matrix of flows and intensities,
of the process, actually.
effectively urbanizing the rural landscape. But almost immediately, this process of amplifying complexity had to be reversed. The clarity of these initial diagrams is threatened by the myriad requirements of construction, structure, program, and so forth. The process of generating complexity very quickly became, as you said, a struggle for clarity. To visit BMW and not have one’s attention clamored for by sprinkler pipes, HVAC, signage, and all those workaday elements that undermine so many buildings is no small achievement. All of those elements are there, but each has been marshaled into alignment with the broader ambitions of the project. For me, that is the real achievement of the building. It demonstrates that it is possible for an architect not to throw her hands up in defeat in the face of the brute realities of construction.
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CONVERSATIONs