idrivemyself
08-06-2004, 04:51 PM
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/museummobile.jpg
Over the past few years, Audi has enjoyed a resurgence so strong that many modern Audi owners are relatively new to the brand and are quite unaware of its rich history. While many modern owners have little concept of the brand prior to the successful A4 or perhaps the original Quattro coupe, Audi itself has recently taken a proactive role in the bolstering of its own long history, including the histories of its sibling Auto Union brands, including DKW, Horch, Wanderer and even NSU. The main thrust of these efforts includes the amassing of a generously large collection of automobiles, motorcycles and more that has been built by these brands and presenting the collection in a unique museum at Audi AG’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.
Audi’s Museum Mobile opened its doors in 1992 as a key component of the company’s Audi Forum; a group of facilities that provide visitors with a fully faceted Audi experience during their visit to Ingolstadt. Located next to the Ingolstadt factory complex, the Audi Forum also includes an Info Pavilion, Central Reception area, a Customer Center (with delivery area, Audi Collection shop and Quattro GmbH office), a Market & Customer services building and more.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/001__scaled_600_012.jpg
Architecture and Design
As with Audi products themselves, design was most important in the creation of the Museum Mobile. Openness and transparency were key elements in the architecture of the building. One goes to the top of the cylindrical building and works their way down to the bottom, viewing examples of cars from Audi/Auto Union’s earliest years at the top, down to the most modern products at the base. Glass surrounds the entire building, emphasizing the feeling of openness throughout one’s visit.
Movement was another element that the building’s design was made to exude. A moving sunscreen helps bestow the feeling of motion, but the cornerstone of this design facet is a paternoster elevator just inside the building’s front windows. The paternoster holds and displays several cars and constantly rotates them up on the inside of the building and down if viewed from the outside. The full rotation spans all four levels of the museum, while the 14 platforms on the paternoster play home to a wide collection of prototypes from throughout the history of the brands.
In case you didn’t pick up on it, design themes aren’t the only thing that pay homage to the Audi/Auto Union brands. Elements can be found everywhere. Even the four round floors mimic the four silver rings that make up the brand’s logo, while their concentric arrangement were designed to mimic the growth patterns of a tree, in this case paying homage to the growth of the company created by August Horch over 100 years ago.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/013__scaled_600_002.jpg
Exhibit
Audi Tradition, now a division of Audi AG, was instrumental in the organization of the museum, including the amassing of over 50 automobiles and 30 motorcycles and bicycles from Audi, Auto Union, DKW, Horch, NSU and Wanderer.
Upon first entering the museum and starting a tour, visitors are directed to a unique round cinema on level 0. There, a brief film is shown, emphasizing the history of mobility and motion; the major themes of the exhibition.
After leaving the theatre, visitors enter an elevator that goes to the top of the museum where the oldest cars in the collection are housed. The elevator’s etched glass walls and LED projectors show dates moving from present to the year of 1899 when, for all intents and purposes, the history of Audi began.
On the top floor, you’ll find many of the oldest examples. Pre-war Horches, Wanderers, DKWs and Audis show the range of production, from minimalist motorcycles to the grandest of tourers housed behind their protective glass.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/038__scaled_600_001.jpg
Descend further into the museum and you move into the post-war period. 1960s NSUs and up to other Audi examples from the ‘80s and ‘90s are also found. Among them, we also discovered the ASF concept, a prototypical A8 that heralded Audi’s movement to production with the lightweight metal.
In addition to the ASF, which we found on the museum floor, the paternoster also held other concepts including the R8 prototype, Project Rosemeyer, the J. Mays designed Avus, the Quattro Spyder, a prototype Audi V8 stationwagon and more.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/062__scaled_600_001.jpg
Throughout the museum you’ll also find a plethora of examples of Audi’s motorsport prowess as well. We spotted one of the replica Auto Union Streamliner cars that Audi had painstakingly built (since none of the original cars survives). A short-wheelbase hillclimb Auto Union racecar is one of the few original cars that exists today and could be found nearby. Racing examples of both DKW and NSU motorcycles can be seen, as can an NSU TTS Racecar, a Quattro Rally Car raced by Michelle Mouton in the 1980s and a V8 DTM car raced by Hans Stuck in the early 1990s.
Nearing the bottom of the museum is a more regularly changing exhibit. During our March 2004 trip to Ingolstadt, a wealth of Lamborghini models was on display, heralding the rich history of this Italian sports car brand.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/086__scaled_600.jpg
When Visiting
Museum Mobile is located at the entrance to the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. Within this area you can also find the factory delivery center, a Quattro GmbH office, Audi Collection Store, Audi Tradition Store and a literature disbursement office across from the museum for sales brochure aficionados.
Factory tours can be arranged, though we suggest you call ahead for reservations. Checking in before planning your trip can also pay off as the Audi Forum also plays host to other events such as concerts and model car shows, while vintage racing events are also held nearby during certain times of the year.
Should you find yourself hungry while visiting, the Audi Forum has the “Marche” self-service restaurant or the more exclusive “Avus” restaurant, both managed by a company called Mövenpick, which also runs several of the food establishments at Autostadt in Wolfsburg.
Keep your eyes open while in Ingolstadt, because you never know what you’ll see. As in any factory town, there were plenty of cool and oddball Audis on the roads. In addition to that, you might find early production mules in testing or special-order executive cars on the move. During our visit prior to the A6’s official unveiling at the Geneva Auto Show last March, we spotted parked within the Audi Forum gates two new C6-model A6 sedans parked next to an A8 6.0 and Lamborghini Gallardo.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/013__scaled_600_003.jpg
Visiting Ingolstadt itself is fairly easy. It’s a relatively short jaunt up the autobahn from Munich, where making flights in and out is easy. Justification for the trip to your non-Audiphile family members is rather simple, too, as the historic sections of both Ingolstadt and Munich should also not be missed when in the region.
For further information on the Audi Forum Ingolstadt, dates of events and booking details, please visit www.audi.de/foren on the Internet.
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/002__scaled_600.jpg
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/005__scaled_600.jpg
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/021__scaled_600.jpg
The rest of the photos can be found here: http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/gallery2.php?mode=album&album=/Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile#
*Fourtitude
Over the past few years, Audi has enjoyed a resurgence so strong that many modern Audi owners are relatively new to the brand and are quite unaware of its rich history. While many modern owners have little concept of the brand prior to the successful A4 or perhaps the original Quattro coupe, Audi itself has recently taken a proactive role in the bolstering of its own long history, including the histories of its sibling Auto Union brands, including DKW, Horch, Wanderer and even NSU. The main thrust of these efforts includes the amassing of a generously large collection of automobiles, motorcycles and more that has been built by these brands and presenting the collection in a unique museum at Audi AG’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.
Audi’s Museum Mobile opened its doors in 1992 as a key component of the company’s Audi Forum; a group of facilities that provide visitors with a fully faceted Audi experience during their visit to Ingolstadt. Located next to the Ingolstadt factory complex, the Audi Forum also includes an Info Pavilion, Central Reception area, a Customer Center (with delivery area, Audi Collection shop and Quattro GmbH office), a Market & Customer services building and more.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/001__scaled_600_012.jpg
Architecture and Design
As with Audi products themselves, design was most important in the creation of the Museum Mobile. Openness and transparency were key elements in the architecture of the building. One goes to the top of the cylindrical building and works their way down to the bottom, viewing examples of cars from Audi/Auto Union’s earliest years at the top, down to the most modern products at the base. Glass surrounds the entire building, emphasizing the feeling of openness throughout one’s visit.
Movement was another element that the building’s design was made to exude. A moving sunscreen helps bestow the feeling of motion, but the cornerstone of this design facet is a paternoster elevator just inside the building’s front windows. The paternoster holds and displays several cars and constantly rotates them up on the inside of the building and down if viewed from the outside. The full rotation spans all four levels of the museum, while the 14 platforms on the paternoster play home to a wide collection of prototypes from throughout the history of the brands.
In case you didn’t pick up on it, design themes aren’t the only thing that pay homage to the Audi/Auto Union brands. Elements can be found everywhere. Even the four round floors mimic the four silver rings that make up the brand’s logo, while their concentric arrangement were designed to mimic the growth patterns of a tree, in this case paying homage to the growth of the company created by August Horch over 100 years ago.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/013__scaled_600_002.jpg
Exhibit
Audi Tradition, now a division of Audi AG, was instrumental in the organization of the museum, including the amassing of over 50 automobiles and 30 motorcycles and bicycles from Audi, Auto Union, DKW, Horch, NSU and Wanderer.
Upon first entering the museum and starting a tour, visitors are directed to a unique round cinema on level 0. There, a brief film is shown, emphasizing the history of mobility and motion; the major themes of the exhibition.
After leaving the theatre, visitors enter an elevator that goes to the top of the museum where the oldest cars in the collection are housed. The elevator’s etched glass walls and LED projectors show dates moving from present to the year of 1899 when, for all intents and purposes, the history of Audi began.
On the top floor, you’ll find many of the oldest examples. Pre-war Horches, Wanderers, DKWs and Audis show the range of production, from minimalist motorcycles to the grandest of tourers housed behind their protective glass.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/038__scaled_600_001.jpg
Descend further into the museum and you move into the post-war period. 1960s NSUs and up to other Audi examples from the ‘80s and ‘90s are also found. Among them, we also discovered the ASF concept, a prototypical A8 that heralded Audi’s movement to production with the lightweight metal.
In addition to the ASF, which we found on the museum floor, the paternoster also held other concepts including the R8 prototype, Project Rosemeyer, the J. Mays designed Avus, the Quattro Spyder, a prototype Audi V8 stationwagon and more.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/062__scaled_600_001.jpg
Throughout the museum you’ll also find a plethora of examples of Audi’s motorsport prowess as well. We spotted one of the replica Auto Union Streamliner cars that Audi had painstakingly built (since none of the original cars survives). A short-wheelbase hillclimb Auto Union racecar is one of the few original cars that exists today and could be found nearby. Racing examples of both DKW and NSU motorcycles can be seen, as can an NSU TTS Racecar, a Quattro Rally Car raced by Michelle Mouton in the 1980s and a V8 DTM car raced by Hans Stuck in the early 1990s.
Nearing the bottom of the museum is a more regularly changing exhibit. During our March 2004 trip to Ingolstadt, a wealth of Lamborghini models was on display, heralding the rich history of this Italian sports car brand.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/086__scaled_600.jpg
When Visiting
Museum Mobile is located at the entrance to the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt. Within this area you can also find the factory delivery center, a Quattro GmbH office, Audi Collection Store, Audi Tradition Store and a literature disbursement office across from the museum for sales brochure aficionados.
Factory tours can be arranged, though we suggest you call ahead for reservations. Checking in before planning your trip can also pay off as the Audi Forum also plays host to other events such as concerts and model car shows, while vintage racing events are also held nearby during certain times of the year.
Should you find yourself hungry while visiting, the Audi Forum has the “Marche” self-service restaurant or the more exclusive “Avus” restaurant, both managed by a company called Mövenpick, which also runs several of the food establishments at Autostadt in Wolfsburg.
Keep your eyes open while in Ingolstadt, because you never know what you’ll see. As in any factory town, there were plenty of cool and oddball Audis on the roads. In addition to that, you might find early production mules in testing or special-order executive cars on the move. During our visit prior to the A6’s official unveiling at the Geneva Auto Show last March, we spotted parked within the Audi Forum gates two new C6-model A6 sedans parked next to an A8 6.0 and Lamborghini Gallardo.
http://www.fourtitude.com/news/uploads/Features/013__scaled_600_003.jpg
Visiting Ingolstadt itself is fairly easy. It’s a relatively short jaunt up the autobahn from Munich, where making flights in and out is easy. Justification for the trip to your non-Audiphile family members is rather simple, too, as the historic sections of both Ingolstadt and Munich should also not be missed when in the region.
For further information on the Audi Forum Ingolstadt, dates of events and booking details, please visit www.audi.de/foren on the Internet.
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/002__scaled_600.jpg
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/005__scaled_600.jpg
http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/generated//Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile/021__scaled_600.jpg
The rest of the photos can be found here: http://www.fourtitude.com/gallery/gallery2.php?mode=album&album=/Features/Travel/Audi%20Forum%20-%20Ingolstadt%20Germany%20(2004)/Museum%20Mobile#
*Fourtitude