The highly polished automobiles from the first motor carriage to the record breaking racing cars and Unimog utility vehicles, remain literally in the spotlights and constitute the visual heart of this collection.
The building was designed by UN Studio, Amsterdam and was inspired by the DNA double helix. After an initial lift journey to the top floor to the earliest exhibits, visitors are guided in soft spirals down towards the most recent developments.
In an exhibition space comprising 16,500sq.m which extends over nine levels, one hundred andsixty vehicles and hundreds of other exhibits are presented in two interconnecting round tours. The exhibition itself is the concept of the HG Merz Company, an architectural practice specialising in museum and exhibition design, which has arranged 'mythology spaces' along one of the round tours that covers the history of the brand in chronological order. The second round tour groups the wealth of vehicles in five topical rooms, including for the first time, the history of the Daimler Benz utility vehicles. In 'The Fascination of Technology' exhibition area the visitor gets an insight into the working environment of the engineer as well as an insight into future developments.
At the finish on the ground floor, where both round tours meet, you can almost forget for a few moments that you are really inside a gigantic multi-storey car park. On a steep curved slope, racing cars that cover more than a hundred years of history are arranged in a virtual race. Video projections create a Le Mans type atmosphere, while the deep roar of the engines that numb the senses is re-created through eight d&b audiotechnik Q1 loudspeakers with four Q subwoofers installed along the curve. Mevis.tv based in Stuttgart, installed these systems plus countless E0 loudspeakers positioned throughout the museum for announcements and music.
The official opening of the museum took place in May. On the first weekend, when admission was free, long queues formed in front of the entrance, with people standing in line for up to two hours. However, neither the wait nor the lashing rain quenched the enthusiasm of the thirty thousand odd visitors.
(Chris Henry)
