Archinect - News

Frei Otto feared society was ignoring the ecological crisis

2015-05-20T20:36:00-04:00

The daughter of the man who was awarded what is considered the most prestigious prize in architecture said her late father was increasingly concerned society was not adequately confronting the looming ecological challenges. Frei Otto, a German, was named as the winner of the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize earlier this year, just days before his death... The award was received by...the architect’s daughter who...said he had been worried that the concerns he tried to voice were not heard.

Frei Otto: "What does society really need?"

2015-05-14T14:41:00-04:00

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, undoubtedly the most prestigious architecture award in the world, is having its ceremony in Miami this week. [...] Otto often questioned how his work could benefit mankind. When speaking with Icon magazine in 2005, he was critical of grandiose structures such as Buckminster Fuller’s vision of an enormous dome over Manhattan, asking to himself: “What does society really need?”

Previously: Frei Otto wins 2015 Pritzker Prize

Editor's Picks #408

2015-03-16T11:50:00-04:00

Nicholas Korody profiled the Los Angeles Nomadic Division (LAND). jla-x was excited as has "been looking for a way to get involved with something like this".

News

- The world lost visionary Frei Otto and his death moved up the announcement of his winning the 2015 Pritzker Prize. Plus, the renowned Michael Graves died and his firm promised to "continue to honor Michael’s humanistic design philosophy".

While EKE thought Otto was "a spectacular choice. Bravo.", Eric Chavkin noted "Frei Otto's work inspired Glen Small's BIOMORPHIC BIOSPHERE and much of early SCI_Arc student work". RJ Magoon also opined "No matter your opinion on the man or his work, it's hard to deny Graves' enormous influence on the practice and education in the last quarter of the Twentieth Century".

Ayesha Ghosh reported in from the first of the Architectural League of New York 2015 Emerging Voices lecture series, with firms Aranda\Lasch and MANUEL CERVANTES CESPEDES / CC ARQUITECTOS. There Aranda claimed "we like th...

Archinect Sessions Episode #20: Three Funerals and a Curator

2015-03-12T18:01:00-04:00

Ten minutes before we sat down to record this week's episode, the Pritzker Prize Laureate was announced – posthumously. The winner, Frei Otto (1925 - 2015), was a German architect whose impressive work and research with lightweight and sustainable structures influenced countless architects through the 20th century to today. Otto was informed of the prize before his death in Germany this past Monday, March 9, prompting the Pritzker committee to make the formal announcement the day after.

This episode, we reflect on Otto's remarkable life and the Prize's announcement in the midst of his passing. We also examine the uncertain fate (and value) of Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House, which will be up for sale on May 19, and consider whether architects should shoulder the cultural and emotional weight of deciding how we bury our dead.

And on the heels of Google's announcement that BIG will collaborate with Heatherwick Studios on their campus expansion, Amelia spoke with curator Brooke Hodge i...

Frei Otto wins 2015 Pritzker Prize

2015-03-10T17:37:00-04:00

German architect Frei Otto has been named the 2015 Pritzker Prize Laureate. Otto was known for his technologically progressive and sustainable work with lightweight, adaptable structures that accomplished remarkable engineering feats – a noteworthy instance being his canopy for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 2006, he won the Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture, and was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for architecture from RIBA in 2005. Otto passed away yesterday in Germany, prompting the Prizker committee to break the news in advance of the scheduled announcement on March 23rd. This is the first time winner has died before the announcement was made.

Otto had already been informed of his win, responding to Pritzker officials, “I’ve never done anything to gain this prize... Prize-winning is not the goal of my life. I try to help poor people, but what shall I say here, I’m very happy.” According to the New York Times, the Pritzker ceremony will precede as scheduled on May 15, ...