From planning to opening:
the beginnings of the BMW Welt.

275 architecture firms submitted tenders for the BMW Welt, and the jury’s decision was unanimous. The winning design was by Professor Wolf D. Prix and the Viennese architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au.

As a student, Professor Prix attended lectures by Professor Karl Schwanzer, the architect of the BMW headquarters - the so-called four-cylinder Building - and the BMW Museum. On one occasion, Professor Schwanzer’s lecture was interrupted as there was a call for him. When he came back he said to his students: “Today is like Christmas for me – I have won the BMW Tower!” Exactly 30 years later, Professor Prix was giving a lecture in Vienna himself. This lecture was also interrupted: “You have won the BMW Welt competition!”

On the pages that follow you find out everything about the location of the BMW Welt, the various construction phases and the special architectural features.