Frei Otto

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Lore & Background

Otto was born in Siegmar, Germany, and grew up in Berlin. He studied architecture in Berlin before being drafted into the Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot in the last years of World War II. Interned in a prisoner of war camp near Chartres, he began experimenting with tents for shelter due to lack of material and an urgent need for housing. After the war he studied briefly in the US and visited Erich Mendelsohn, Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, and Frank Lloyd Wright. He began a private practice in Germany in 1952 and earned a doctorate in tensioned constructions in 1954. His saddle-shaped cable-net music pavilion at the Bundesgartenschau in Kassel 1955 brought his first significant attention. In 1958, Otto taught at Washington University in St. Louis' Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts where he met Buckminster Fuller. He founded the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964 and headed it until his retirement. Major works include the West German Pavilion designed with Rolf Gutbrod for the Montreal Expo in 1967 and the roof of the 1972 Munich Olympic Arena. He lectured worldwide and taught at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, where he also designed some research facilities buildings of the school's forest campus in Hooke Park. Until his death, Otto remained active, consulting for his protégé Mahmoud Bodo Rasch on projects in the Middle East. He collaborated with Shigeru Ban on the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 with a roof structure made entirely of paper, and with SL Rasch GmbH designed a convertible roof for the Venezuelan Pavilion. In 2002 he envisioned a memorial for the September 11 attacks: the two footprints of the World Trade Center buildings covered with water and surrounded by trees, with a world map embedded in the park and a board announcing the number of people killed in war from 11 September 2001 onward. He died on 9 March 2015; the Pritzker Prize committee announced his award on 10 March, though he had been told earlier by executive director Martha Thorne. He said, '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.'

Reader's Guide

Frei Otto's significance lies in his pioneering use of lightweight tensile and membrane structures, and his advances in structural mathematics and civil engineering. His saddle-shaped cable-net music pavilion at the 1955 Bundesgartenschau in Kassel first brought him attention. The roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics remains his most famous project, demonstrating how cable-net and membrane systems can create dramatic, functional spaces. Otto founded the Institute for Lightweight Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964 and headed it until retirement, advancing research in lightweight construction. He also taught at Washington University in St. Louis, where he met Buckminster Fuller, and at the Architectural Association School of Architecture. His later work included the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 with a paper roof structure and a convertible roof for the Venezuelan Pavilion. The Pritzker Prize awarded in 2015 recognized his lifetime contributions, though Otto himself said, 'I've never done anything to gain this prize. Prize winning is not the goal of my life. I try to help poor people.'

Did You Know?

• Otto was interned in a prisoner of war camp near Chartres during World War II, where he began experimenting with tents for shelter.
• He earned a doctorate in tensioned constructions in 1954.
• His saddle-shaped cable-net music pavilion at the Bundesgartenschau in Kassel 1955 brought his first significant attention.
• Otto was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2015, and was told by executive director Martha Thorne before his death.
• He envisioned a memorial for the September 11 attacks with the two footprints of the World Trade Center covered with water and surrounded by trees.