The BMW Guggenheim Lab.
Forward thinking − sustainable solutions for urban life.
After an eventful and fascinating ten-week stint in New York from August 3 to October 16, 2011, the mobile laboratory is opening its doors on its second stop of a world tour that will be taking in nine cities in total. From June 15 to July 29, 2012, you can discover the BMW Guggenheim Lab programme in Berlin.
What is the BMW Guggenheim Lab?
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile laboratory that will travel to nine major cities worldwide over six years. Comprising young, international teams from the areas of urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education and sustainability, the BMW Guggenheim Lab addresses issues of contemporary urban life through projects, experiments and public discourse. Its goal is the exploration of new ideas, experimentation and, ultimately, the creation of forward-thinking solutions for urban life.
In the course of three two-year theme cycles, a different mobile lab is being sent around the world. Each of the three labs is designed by a different architect and travels to three cities in the course of its cycle. The theme of the first two-year cycle of the BMW Guggenheim Lab is "Confronting Comfort", exploring notions of individual and collective comfort and the urgent need for environmental and social responsibility.
Cycle 1 of the BMW Guggenheim Lab was launched in New York City from August 3 to October 16, 2011. It then proceeds to Berlin (June 15 to July 29, 2012) and then on to Mumbai. The first cycle will be completed in 2013, with an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Two further cycles will take place by autumn 2016, each with a new mobile lab and a new theme.
Part urban think-tank, part interdisciplinary gathering space, the BMW Guggenheim Lab is conceived to engage public discourse in cities around the world and through the BMW Guggenheim Lab website and online social networks.
The real-life lab and the online lab
Following on from New York in 2011, the second stop of the BMW Guggenheim Lab in 2012 will be in Berlin. An open-minded, multi-discipline hub, Berlin is a centre for international experts and up-and-coming talents from the areas of urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education and sustainability.
All members of public may take part in the programmes and experiments in the lab free of charge. Further, people from all round the world can get actively involved in the concepts and experiments developed in the lab via the BMW Guggenheim Lab website and social networks.
After the third stop in Mumbai, the end of the first cycle will be marked by an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Two further two-year cycles will follow until autumn 2016, each with a new mobile structure and a new theme.
Architecture
With a structural skeleton built of carbon fibre, the lightweight and compact BMW Guggenheim Lab for the first cycle was designed by the Tokyo-based architecture company Atelier Bow-Wow.
Team
People from all four corners of the globe are involved in the BMW Guggenheim Lab − ranging from architects and graphic designers to the prestigious "Advisory Committee" as well as the up-and-coming talents within the Lab Team itself.
