For this year’s IAA summit, the BMW Group headquarters are lit up with a massive projection installation, starting from September 3rd.
The massive projection uses 36 projectors, generating 16.816.500 pixels, to cover the entire 99-meter-tall building, projecting various immersive colour combinations and animations from three projection towers linked by wireless timecodes for synchronization. Each animation tells the story of the BMW Group as a company undergoing profound transformation through targeted CO2 reductions, pursuit of climate neutrality and a shift towards circular economy.
In this way, the project mapping of the BMW Group headquarters represents more than just a grandiose light spectacle; it is the visualization of the BMW Group’s main focuses during this year’s IAA summit: circularity, electrification and digitalization and how these will shape the future of mobility, for the BMW Group, and for the industry as a whole.
The projections themselves take various forms; one visualizes the shift from combustion engine-driven drivetrains to electrification; another blasts a huge “WELCOME TO IAA. LET’S RE:IMAGINE TODAY”; a third transforms the entire building into a giant pulsating battery, for spectators to see both in Munich and online.
Behind the scenes, a large setup of new illumination tech, preparation and energy management makes sure that the facades light up in sustainable style.
Using green electricity to power the projection’s LEDs, it is as such one of the greenest of its kind ever. The project is realized as an international collaboration using remote working systems to minimize travel. It is one of the largest ever to be seen in Europe.
And then there is the issue of working with highly immersive imagery on the iconic glass facades. In order to secure the best possible working surface for the projections, all windows facing east, south and west were meticulously prepared. Not a small task, for which even top level management had to leave their office for a while. Similarly, light switches inside the building will as far as possible be turned off.
Ultimately, this is about more than just a light show on a massive scale. The project mapping of the BMW Group headquarters is a deliberately ambitious project, developed to make sure that the BMW Group and one of Munich’s most iconic buildings send the right message for a special occasion: an immersive look at the core of the BMW Group’s activities at a unique moment in time.
