Note: The biography only mentions a selection of Frei Otto's many works. Further information is available at http://www.freiotto.com/ and in the bibliography on this topic.
5/31/1925 |
Frei Otto is born in Siegmar/Saxony as the son of a sculptor |
1943 |
Passes his Abitur at the Schadow School in Berlin-Zehlendorf |
1943 - 1945 |
Military service |
1945 - 1947 |
Prisoner of war near Chartres, France; camp architect |
1948 |
Studies Architecture at Berlin Technical University |
1950 - 1951 |
Study visit to the USA; studies Sociology and Urban Planning at the University of Virginia |
1952 |
Receives diploma, works as a freelance architect in Berlin |
1954 |
Appointed Dr-Ing. after submitting his PhD thesis on "Suspended roofs" |
1957 |
Founds the Development Workshop for Lightweight Structures in Berlin |
1958 - 1969 |
Studio in Türksteinweg in Berlin |
1958 |
Visiting Professor at Washington University in St. Louis; seminar at the University of Mexico |
1959 |
Visiting Professor at the College of Design, Ulm |
1960 |
Visiting Professor at Yale University, New Haven |
1961 |
Assistant to P. Poelzig at Berlin Technical University; founds the "Biology and Building" Research Group (with J.G. Helmcke) |
1962 |
Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and at Harvard University |
1964 |
Founds the Institute for Lightweight Structures (IL) at Stuttgart College of Technology |
1965 |
Appointed Honorary Professor at Stuttgart College of Technology |
1966 - 1967 |
Designs German pavilion at EXPO '67 in Montreal, Canada with Gutbrod and others |
1968 |
Designs building for the Institute for Lightweight Structures, Stuttgart-Vaihingen |
1969 |
Founding member of Collaborative Research Centre 64 "Wide-spanned two-dimensional structures" of the German Research Foundation; establishes Frei Otto Studio in Warmbronn |
1971 |
Head of the architecture class of the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts, Salzburg; awarded the Paul Bonatz Prize of the city of Stuttgart for his work on the Institute for Lightweight Structures; exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art, New York |
1972 |
Designs roof of Munich Olympic Stadium for and with Behnisch and others |
1974 |
Designs Congress Centre and hotel in Mecca with Gutbrod and others |
1975 |
Designs Multihalle in Mannheim with Mutschler and others |
1976 |
Appointed Full Professor at Universität Stuttgart |
1981 |
Exhibition "Natural Constructions" at the Institute for International Relations, Stuttgart, and at Goethe institutes in around 80 countries |
1985 |
Collaborative Research Centre 230 "Natural Constructions" of the German Research Foundation |
1990 |
Appointed Emeritus Professor; designs Ökohaus in Berlin with Kendel and others |
1992 |
Exhibition "Finding form" with Bodo Raisch in the Villa Stuck, Munich |
2000 |
Works on the Stuttgart Railway Station Project with the Ingenhoven firm |