Elsewhere in Europe, the much-anticipated BMW Museum finally reopened yesterday after a two year closure while the company completely overhauled the whole structure and had it redesigned by Atelier Brueckner GmbH and Art+Com AG. The plan is, of course, the same one held by the massive, also-new Mercedes Museum: to both show off the design legacy of the automaker, but also make you think, as you exit the museum's gift shop, "Man, I'm not sure what it is, but I really want to buy a BMW right now." Here's a bit about the building itself:

BMW will showcase its 90-year history in a 5,000-square-meter (53,800-square-foot) space next to its Munich headquarters...

...BMW's new museum combines the original 1973 circular "key" building, designed by Karl Schwanzer, with an adjacent low rectangular building that once housed conference rooms, a cafeteria and a parking garage.

The low building was gutted to create an interior urban landscape including seven independent exhibition houses and an indoor roadway.