The idea for the museum goes back to 1998; the
Ministry of Culture began planning eight years later and in 2007 Bratterøkaia AS won the commission to create it. It was to have opened in 2009, but completion of the building was delayed by a contractor bankruptcy and a fire. It officially opened on 5 August 2010. Rockheim is housed in a 1919 grain warehouse in Trondheim. To roughly double the space available, a new sixth floor was added in the form of a cantilevered 'box', which is clad in glass decorated with reproductions of album covers and with changeable back-lighting provided by 13,000 individually controllable
LEDs; the public can affect the colours by using cellphones. A "black box" building for performances was also added; the design envisaged this being covered by climbing plants. and for the grounds, Agraff AS. The conversion was awarded the City of Trondheim's 2010 building award. The building has of
floor space, of which half is exhibit space. The building and installations cost 300 million
kroner. The museum is a division of Museene i Sør-Trøndelag. It was headed by
Arvid Esperø during planning and construction and until 2011, when Petter Myhr became the director; he was succeeded in 2013 by Sissel Guttormsen. ==Permanent and virtual exhibits==