Bmw's 4 Cylinder Building Boosting Awareness for the Automaker

BMW the maker of top-of-the-line BMW 328 parts has successfully made its presence felt for many years now. It’s hard to miss out the four cylinder building of the German automaker that is inside Munich’s Olympia park. And for years this structure has helped the company to create awareness for its products and for the company as a whole.

It was Karl Schwanzer, an architecture professor from Vienna that completed the building just in time for the Olympic Games in 1972. The structure is consists of around four 100 meter high cylinders designed crosswise. Then in 2004 up to 2006 the edifice was subjected to renovation and modernization handled by ASP Schweger Assoziierte Gesamtplanung GmbH, a Hamburg-based architectural firm.

Included in the modernization of the building was the installation of several large format TV monitors in one of the rooms without necessarily becoming too distracting. To come up with such the team from Hamburg makes use of specialized glass called Mirona from SCHOTT which were mounted onto the front side of the tables. The monitors behind the pane serves two purpose first for displaying BMW products and as a mirror once turned off.

The mirror effect is achieved with the use of an extremely thin, burned titanium oxide coating which was further supported by the unique way in which light is bent in reference to reflection and transmission.

In front of a dark surface is the optical interference coated mineral glass that acts as a mirror producing a silvery, aesthetic brilliance. With the use of light background or backlighting, the mirror becomes transparent. According to Günter Bauer, Managing Director of Bauer innovativ GmbH in Altötting, Germany, "Mirona is truly something very special with respect to its lighting performance, color and processing capabilities. The ability of this glass to appear transparent on the one hand, yet serve as a reflective surface on the other, enabled us to integrate the monitors into the conference room in a rather discreet manner."

The conference room was also redesigned to give it a more modern look. The company of Günter Bauer was responsible for the construction of tables that were used in the conference room.

SCHOTT Product Manager Stephan Pfaff explains the glass to mirror transition, "The functional transition from glass to a mirror offers enormous potential for premium quality applications, particularly interior decorators, designers and shop fitters. At the press of a button, lighting fixtures, partitions or basic mirrored wall paneling can be turned into elegant design objects with the help of Mirona."