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, with remembrances of Otto in honor of his life.
↑ Institute for Lightweight Structures, interior, 1967, University of Stuttgart in Vaihingen. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
Read the full Jury Citation below:
Frei Otto, born almost 90 years ago in Germany, has spent his long career researching, experimenting, and developing a most sensitive architecture that has influenced countless others throughout the world. The lessons of his pioneering work in the field of lightweight structures that are adaptable, changeable and carefully use limited resources are as relevant today as when they were first proposed over 60 years ago. He has embraced a definition of architect to include researcher, inventor, form-finder, engineer, builder, teacher, collaborator, environmentalist, humanist, and creator of memorable buildings and spaces.
↑ Roofing for main sports facilities in the Munich Olympic Park for the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1968–1972, Munich, Germany. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
He first became known for his tent structures used as temporary exhibition pavilions. The constructions at the German Federal Garden exhibitions and other festivals of the 1950s were functional, beautiful, “floating” roofs that seemed to effortlessly provide shelter, and then were easily dissembled after the events.
↑ Roofing for main sports facilities in the Munich Olympic Park for the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1968–1972, Munich, Germany. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
The cable net structure employed for the German Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal, prefabricated in Germany and assembled on site in a short period of time, was a highlight of the exhibition for its grace and originality. The impressive large-scale roofs designed for the Munich Olympics of 1972, combining lightness and strength, were a building challenge that many said could not be achieved. The architectural landscape for stadium, pool and public spaces, a result of the efforts of a large team, is still impressive today.
↑ The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, 1967, Montreal, Canada. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
Taking inspiration from nature and the processes found there, he sought ways to use the least amount of materials and energy to enclose spaces. He practiced and advanced ideas of sustainability, even before the word was coined. He was inspired by natural phenomena – from birds’ skulls to soap bubbles and spiders’ webs. He spoke of the need to understand the “physical, biological and technical processes which give rise to objects.” Branching concepts from the 1960s optimized structures to support large flat roofs. A grid shell, such as seen in the Mannheim Multihalle of 1974, shows how a simple structural solution, easy to assemble, can create a most striking, flexible space. The Mechtenberg footbridges, with the use of humble slender rods and connecting nodes, but with advanced knowledge, produce an attractive filigree pattern and span distances up to 30 meters. Otto’s constructions are in harmony with nature and always seek to do more with less.
↑ Roof for the Multihalle (multi-purpose hall) in Mannheim, 1970–1975, Mannheim, Germany. Photos © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
Virtually all the works that are associated with Frei Otto have been designed in collaboration with other professionals. He was often approached to form part of a team to tackle complex architectural and structural challenges. The inventive results attest to outstanding collective efforts of multidisciplinary teams.
↑ Japan Pavilion, Expo 2000 Hannover, 2000, Hannover, Germany. Photo by Hiroyuki Hirai
Throughout his life, Frei Otto has produced imaginative, fresh, unprecedented spaces and constructions. He has also created knowledge. Herein resides his deep influence: not in forms to be copied, but through the paths that have been opened by his research and discoveries. His contributions to the field of architecture are not only skilled and talented, but also generous.
↑ Music Pavilion at the Federal Garden Exhibition, 1955, Kassel, Germany. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
↑ Aviary in the Munich Zoo at Hellabrunn, 1979-1980, Munich (Hellabrunn), Germany. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
↑ Large Umbrellas at the Federal Garden Exhibition, 1971, Cologne, Germany. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
For his visionary ideas, inquiring mind, belief in freely sharing knowledge and inventions, his collaborative spirit and concern for the careful use of resources, the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded to Frei Otto.
↑ Umbrellas for Pink Floyd’s 1977 concert tour of the United States, 1977. Photo © Atelier Frei Otto Warmbronn
17 Comments
Wow.
Please see http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2015/media-release
Frei Otto Receives the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize
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Visionary architect, 89, dies in his native Germany on March 9, 2015
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Otto was an architect, visionary, utopian, ecologist, pioneer of lightweight materials, protector of natural resources and a generous collaborator with architects, engineers, and biologists, among others.
Well deserved
like no other...the soap bubble form finding is still one of my favorite methods for form finding in accordance with natures structures
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxeUFVVfVrQ
I think this is a spectacular choice. Bravo.
What a lovely thing that he learned he had won the Pritzker before he died. Go with God, Herr Otto.
Excellent choice.
I'm more a fan of the man, than the architecture, and by that I mean, I don't know a lot about his work, but by the little I know, he's everything Calatrava will never become.
little bummed we all didn't get to do our annual 'who's going to win the pritzker' thread, but a fantastic choice. and, as noted, wonderful he learned of the honor before passing on...
Very cool structures. Looks like BIG was looking at his work for the Google tent.
Nice choice.... seems to be a shift the last two years toward engineering-tech side of architecture. And the countdown before this becomes a political issue on Twitter by hack critics in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6....
"he's everything Calatrava will never become."
b3ta, this made me laugh. I mean I don't completely dislike Calatrava, but I see your point.
I tell a story about when Frei Otto visited my undergraduate school, UofArizona, in the podcast this week (Episode 20, not up quite yet). He seems to have been a genuinely curious and giving person, and interested in some of the best aspects of architecture: efficiency, beauty through materiality, design for inclusion. The Institute for Lightweight Structures building shown above is so beautiful.
Frei Otto had the benefit of being under the radar and unknown to the mean spirited mass media, including architecture Twitter. Media love of Calatrava became new media hate.
Funny how social media still is drivin by these old times prizes. Everything "new" revolves around the built work of the old. Urban theory especially, is drivin by repurposing the old instead of building new.
Congrats to Frei Otto! Amazing designs..
There's an interesting article in the Guardian about Frei Otto. This is the last quote from it.
"My generation had a big task after the war and of course we thought we could do it better,” he said. “Today 60 years later, we can’t be proud of what we have done. But we tried; we tried to go a new way.”
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2015/mar/11/frei-otto-the-titan-of-tent-architecture
Frei Otto's work inspired Glen Small's BIOMORPHIC BIOSPHERE and much of early SCI_Arc student work, including Small's student Shigero Ban and Greg Davis' solar eco-villages in Nigeria. Much of his work and his European followers was published by his Institute for lightweight Structures, The IL series.
Frei Otto Munich Stadium
worth watching
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