Although there are some good resources out there:
City Guide of Canadian Cities
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Munich’s New Modern Design
Photo: Christian Kerber
For much of the world, Munich is likely to evoke one or more stereotypical images, among them the Glockenspiel in the tower of the neo-Gothic Rathaus, or city hall; the annual Oktoberfest bacchanal; and mustachioed men wearing lederhosen. Style, a word generally not associated with lederhosen, doesn’t spring to mind. But these days Munich, Germany’s third-largest city and the capital of Bavaria, is shedding its dirndls and feathered caps in favor of cutting-edge design.
Until my latest visit, I hadn’t thought much of the city. I had traveled there twice—once as a backpacking teenager lured by the promise of copious beer, and again about 10 years later—and in my more sober moments Munich seemed a bit of a bore. It was as if the Wittelsbachs were still holed up in the royal palace: the spires of Baroque churches soared above winding streets, throngs followed the pied-piping Glockenspiel to the Marienplatz (the historic main square), and the Odeonsplatz and tony Maximilianstrasse presided with Italianate decorum. Munich was charming, elegant, and postcard-perfect—but often as riveting as a boiled Bavarian potato. It was a well-preserved time warp rebuilt after World War II with a hint of self-satisfied, Disneyesque preciousness.
That’s no longer the case. “In some ways, Munich has always been a creative city,” says Christian Haas, a young local designer, over drinks at Heyluigi, a bustling boîte in the fashionable Glockenbach neighborhood, where a herd of wall-mounted plastic animals is the primary décor. “But it’s changed a lotin recent years,” he adds.
As Munich celebrates its 850th birthday this year, its historic center remains pleasantly intact—though it’s now also home to a new synagogue and a Jewish Museum, designed by German firm Wandel Hoefer Lorch and opened in 2007. They are signs not just of a reinvigorated Jewish community but of a burst of innovation, powered by a strong economy (companies like BMW and Siemens call Munich home) and by the global boom in contemporary design. Driving in from the airport, one sees the evidence immediately: there’s the Allianz soccer stadium, an illuminated doughnut completed for the 2006 World Cup by vanguard Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. Closer to town are the BMW Museum and the glittering new BMW World, a car-delivery center accessorized with restaurants and shops. The swooping glass-and-steel leviathan, designed by Austrian firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, looks like a spaceship touching down.
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