Administrative building for BMW Munich - West Germany

Abstract

This complex is of especial interest both on account of its design as well as the construction system employed, which represents a noteworthy advance over traditional systems. It is comprised of: The ADMINISTRTIVE BUILDING: Has 18 storeys and is 100 m in height, with floor plan in the shape of a four-leaf clover; a hanging construction system was used, fundamentally consisting of the following elements: — foundation 25 x 25 m and 10 m in depth; — nucleus of the building made up of four reinforced concrete tubes, connected to each other crosswise and housing the installations; — upper cross, of 16 m-long pre-stressed concrete girders, inserted in the wails of the nucleus, supporting the suspended floors; — four central columns of pre-stressed concrete and circular section, which directly receive the loads of the 7 upper floors, and the loads of the 11 lower floors indirectly, through the net-works of the technical floor; — outside supports transmitting the loads of all of the floors to the technical floor; the reinforced concrete compression supports transmit the loads of the 7 upper storeys, and the pre-stressed concrete traction supports transmit those of the 11 lower storeys; — technical floor, which transmits to the four suspended columns the vertical loads of the outside traction and compression supports, through the upper and lower frame-works and the networks made up by diagonal truss-beams; — frame-works made up of sheets of light reinforced concrete oriented towards the suspended columns. The SERVICE BUILDING: A traditional construction of reinforced concrete. MUSEUM: Was constructed with light concrete sheets; on the inside, each of the exhibit planes is a mushroom of concrete on different levels.