BAU 2017—that’s 183,000 square meters of materials, technologies and systems, 25 soccer fields of state-of-the-art technology from the international building industry. On January 16–21, 2017, over 2,000 exhibitors from more than 40 countries again present everything that’s applied in planning and building. Especially among architects from all over the globe, the world-leading trade fair BAU in Munich is regarded as an indispensable source of information and inspiration.

BAU’s universal, multidisciplinary approach makes it the industry’s most important meeting point for all those who are involved professionally in planning and building: from investors to planners and architects to tradespeople and building operators. Messe München, the organizer of BAU, is again expecting around 250,000 visitors; of these, probably about 70,000 will again be from abroad.

The 17 exhibition halls of BAU are arranged according to building materials and product and thematic areas. In addition, there are key themes which are newly specified for each BAU in consultation with the exhibiting industry. These are echoed in many different forms by most of the exhibitors and are also reflected in the BAU forums and special shows. The key themes of BAU 2017 are: intelligent facades; digital design, construction and management; smart buildings; and living and building 2020.

BAU is regarded as the world’s leading trade fair for architecture: for planners, architects and construction engineers from throughout the world, it is the number one information and communication platform. At no other event in the world is this visitor group represented in such numbers and so prominently too. For BAU 2015, 65,000 visitors came from architecture and planning offices—ten years before, the figure was just 25,000. Held in such high esteem among planners and architects, BAU has an absolutely unique selling proposition. And BAU 2017 again provides numerous offers specifically for architects:

• BAU’s program of forums is geared primarily to architects and engineers. In the three forums of the fair (C2, A4 and B0), there are different daily topics that are oriented to the key themes. The variety of topics is huge: smart building materials, BIM, modular construction, easy tech—lowcost: these are only a few of the numerous topics to be reported on and discussed during the six days of the trade fair. The speakers in the forums are independent experts from all over the world, including representatives from well-known offices like Jean Nouvel, Paris; SOM, New York; Nikken Sekkei, Tokyo; David Chipperfield, Berlin; and KSP, Frankfurt.
• The special shows at BAU are also aimed essentially at planners and engineers. Here BAU works together with partners from research and science. For the special show “CityLaboratory: R&D ideas for designing spaces”, that’s the Fraunhofer Building Innovation Alliance. Its 14 institutes present their current research and development work for urban centers: buildings that respond to their users and simultaneously “think” in terms of energy efficiency, facades with properties that have a positive influence on the indoor climate—and much more. ift Rosenheim, a further partner, presents a special show on the topic of “Application-oriented construction quality”. This show makes recommendations for the employment of building components depending on the purpose of application and the needs of the users.
• As part of BAU, numerous architecture awards are also presented; these include the Bauwelt Award “First House” and the DETAIL Award. The Archi-World Academy Award, a competition for young architects and architecture students from all over the world, is a highlight. What’s special about this: twelve star architects, who also make up the jury, offer six-month internships at their offices. Once again, more than 1,400 young architects from across the globe have applied to take part. The award presentation takes place at BAU on January 18, 2017.
• In cooperation with DOCUgroup, BAU again offers tours of the fair specifically for architects, engineers and planners. Lasting around two-and-a-half hours, the tours take place daily and head for the exhibitors’ most interesting highlights. Each tour starts at the DOCUgroup stand in the West Entrance. Booking and information as from the beginning of December: www.architektenrundgang.de
• Another special show in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS takes place in Hall B0. In a holodeck—a virtual special-show area—exhibitors present products and systems. A holodeck is an empty room with coordinates on the floor and sensors on the walls. Using virtual-reality (VR) goggles, visitors are presented with a virtual world which they can explore by walking through the room. By means of the VR goggles and the sensors on the walls, the observers’ location and angle of vision are determined. They thus have the feeling of moving in the virtual world. With the Holodeck 4.0 and for the first time at BAU, it is possible to look at large exhibits, buildings and entire landscapes from all perspectives and on foot.
• The matchmaking tool offers users the possibility of already getting into contact with exhibitors or other visitors to the fair in the run-up to BAU 2017. By entering parameters like product groups, target markets, positions or functions, the users receive a list of matching persons including the company name. Once contact is made, appointments can be arranged and managed by means of the matchmaking tool. This free service was set up specially for exhibitors, architects, engineers and planners.

You’ll find detailed information about special shows, forums and award presentations at bau-muenchen.com/supporting-program.

What does BAU stand for? The essential features of this trade fair are its quality, its internationality, innovative strength and solution-oriented approach. And really important: BAU is a business platform, exhibitors and visitors want to get down to business. Quite specific projects are often spoken about, many visitors bring along complete construction and building plans.

In addition, BAU is a platform for premieres. The exhibiting industry gears the development of its new products to the cycle of BAU. Product innovations—whether it’s windows, doors, floor coverings or new facade elements—are presented first at BAU. For this reason too, trade visitors come from all continents to Munich for BAU every two years.