Cities and urban neighborhoods are like living organisms: to stay alive, they need to preserve the cultural values of their past while also embracing the future. Leading voices are advocating for urban manufacturing as an engine and a vital building block for revitalizing downtowns. The key is to create a strong, efficient and productive core, to make the site both open to and fully embedded in its immediate surroundings and to allow for vibrant interaction between the two. Mindful of the adaptability and flexibility needed for any future endeavor, we build on the idea of the BMW plant as an organism with the capacity to respond to internal and external stimuli. At the same time, precisely targeted revitalization efforts give the site a new forward-looking identity. 

A set of rules governs how certain structural elements are arranged, expanded and exchanged in the underlying framework, while allowing each section a certain amount of flexibility. This enables the developers to synchronize the construction phases for individual sections of the site, establishes an efficient layout to accommodate unforeseeable long-term development and change processes within the industry and allows for a modular, flexible building strategy regardless of the scale. Making the existing structures compatible with the new rules ensures that we can revitalize the complex in an incremental, demand-oriented way. Legacy buildings are upgraded and easily integrated into the new system. 

An imposing open space in the form of a forest defines the future identity of “Werk 1”. In addition to striking the right balance between the open and the built environment, it meets the environmental standards for drainage, ventilation and cooling. The underlying rules for the complex also set targets for energy consumption, building materials, functionality, technology and design, the circular economy and social and environmental sustainability, including aspects such as open space, resilience and microclimate.

The objective for this flagship factory is to become a sustainable urban production site that meets all of the above requirements but doesn’t stop there. As well as actually manufacturing and distributing its products worldwide, BMW has expressly seized this opportunity and the responsibility to serve as caretaker and creator for itself as an enterprise, its natural environment and its hometown. In doing so, it becomes a role model for corporations across the globe.