The big picture

Space and movement are constants in the history of the BMW Group. For the company’s 100th anniversary, we present these elements in this newly designed timeline experience in the BMW Museum in Munich. A clear scenography creates a spatial journey through time.

The brief

To present the company’s past, present and future in a holistic and multimedial way. To make the digital company archives accessible to museum visitors.

The challenge

To present the historical content in an accessible way and to seamlessly integrate the concept into the existing museum architecture. We also had to guarantee the room’s flexibility as an event location and ensure that vehicles could pass through into the permanent exhibition.

The idea

The company is driven by its visions of the future. To communicate this, we present these visions in the fascinating context of space and time as an immersive experience. We create a time tunnel from rings, each containing the story of an era.

Each ring covers ten years of the company’s history. At the end, the room opens up and ideas from the past meet contemporary trends and visions for the future.

The reality

The exhibition welcomes visitors with warm wood, a spacious lounge area and comfortable seating. The friendly, welcoming setting encourages visitors to linger and explore.

Visitors descend the wall-to-wall steps into the early days of the company. The chronological structure of the exhibition gives visitors a clear orientation. Important dates underline the structure in 10-year steps. The relationship between past, present and future becomes intuitive thanks to light impulses and an audio installation.

In detail

Touchscreens are flush-mounted into each ring. These are the windows to the past. Visitors can immerse themselves in the company’s archive. The content is clearly structured and intuitive to navigate.

The content is presented in a carousel of hanging files, which constantly rotate. The movement is reminiscent of a ticking clock. Time is passing. Select stories are enlarged appears in enlarged on the monitors enticing the visitor to discover more. Related content is always hovering in the background, ready to provide context to the historical milestones.

It is the emotional appeal that really transforms the exhibition into an immersive experience. Whispers and gentle soundscapes trigger all kinds of images in the visitors’ imaginations. Visions from the past convey dreams and ideas that in time became reality.

The end wall of the room opens up as a virtual window into the future. The 4K big screen enhances spatial depth. Visual worlds unfold and introduce visitors to the BMW Group today in the context of visionary megatrends. Visitors can directly experience the way to the future.

The flexible design with modular seating and invisible sliding door makes it possible to bring in vehicles through the upper exhibition space and to host different event formats.

The timeless design of our timetunnel became a film set in 2016 for the German feature film “Welcome to Germany”. We’ll take that as a compliment.