BMW’s Leipzig assembly operation is the first plant in an industrial production site designed by Iraqi-born architect Zara Hadid.
Best known for her outrageous concepts, art pavilions and buildings such as the Bergisel ski jump in Innsbruck, Austria, Hadid had to tackle the challenge of connecting assembly lines by means of a central building.
Hadid went for an open structure that appears to tear down formal structures and puts each employee, even nonproduction workers, permanently in sight of moving car bodies.
Slanted cuts in the concrete exterior evoke images of speed and racing. The atmosphere is decidedly cool and technical with lots of raw concrete and bluish lighting.
Says BMW CEO Helmut Panke: “It was a conscious decision [to create] a landmark.”
