In 2001, an international
architectural design competition was sponsored by
BMW. Twenty-seven offices participated in the competition four of which were awarded prizes. The jury awarded two offices
Sauerbruch Hutton and
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU first prize and made the recommendation for the competitors to rework their design submissions in a third design phase in order for BMW to determine which office would be awarded the contract. The contract was awarded to the Vienna-based architects COOP HIMMELB(L)AU and the facility was constructed from August 2003 through summer 2007 at a cost of US$200 million. There were 2,200,000 visitors during the first 12 months of operation. The number of visitors increased to 2,930,000 in 2013, of which 60% came from Germany. Designed with an 800 kW solar plant on its roof, "the building does not have the boredom of an exhibition hall, it is not only a temple but also a market place and communication center, and a meeting point for knowledge transfer", said architect Wolf D. Prix at the opening ceremony. COOP HIMMELB(L)AU's BMW Welt project records are archived at the
Canadian Centre for Architecture in
Montreal,
Quebec,
Canada. ==Gallery==