The original Porsche museum opened in 1976 in a side road near the Porsche factory. It was a relatively small works museum with limited parking and could hold only around 20 exhibits at a time, rotating them from a stock of approximately 300 restored cars — many in pristine condition and maintained in full working order. This rotating display approach gave the original facility the character of a rolling museum rather than a permanent collection.
After the new Mercedes-Benz Museum opened in the east of Stuttgart in 2006, Porsche proceeded with plans to build an entirely new facility in Zuffenhausen rather than relocating to the Killesberg area, which had been an earlier possibility. Work on the concept for the new museum began in 2003, with a storyboard of relevant topics, exhibits, and presentation methods developed before design proceeded.
Construction began officially on 17 October 2005. The museum was handed over to Porsche on 8 December 2008 and officially opened on 28 January 2009, with public access beginning on 31 January 2009. Original cost estimates were set at 60 million euros, but days before the opening ceremony it was confirmed that actual costs reached 100 million euros.
The building was designed by Vienna-based Delugan Meissl Associated Architects. Exhibition spaces were designed by HG Merz, who had also contributed to the award-winning Mercedes-Benz Museum.
The structure covers a total usable area of 21,000 square metres spanning up to four levels, including two underground floors. It was constructed using reinforced concrete incorporating 3,400 tonnes of reinforcing steel, forming a watertight white tank with flat slabs. The foundation uses 115 drilled piles with a diameter of 1.2 metres and lengths of up to 25 metres.
Above the basement level, only three core groups remain: a vertical shaft housing elevator systems and two cores supported by Y-shaped columns. The exhibition building itself, known as the Flieger (flyer), rests on these three cores. It weighs 35,000 tonnes and is suspended at a maximum height of 16 metres in a bridge structure up to 150 metres long. The steel construction weighs 5,500 tonnes and spans up to 60 metres between the supporting cores, with cantilevered sections extending up to 45 metres. The result is a building that appears to float above the ground, a deliberate architectural statement.
The display area covers 5,600 square metres and features over 80 exhibits, including many rare cars and a comprehensive range of historical models. All ancillary architectural, media, and typographic elements are designed to be unobtrusive, ensuring the vehicles remain the focus of each space.
The museum contains three dining options: the Boxenstopp visitor restaurant, a coffee bar, and the Christophorus restaurant in the upper portion of the building. The Christophorus is designed in the style of an American diner and includes a wine cellar and adjoining cigar lounge. Gastronomy services are managed internally by Porsche.
The Porsche Museum functions as both a public attraction and a keeper of the company's racing and road-car heritage. Its collection spans the company's entire history from the earliest Porsche-designed vehicles to current production models, providing a physical record of the engineering and design philosophy that has shaped the brand across more than seven decades of automobile manufacturing.