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Stuttgart Incentives

Biography: Frei Otto (born 1925)

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Note: The biography only mentions a selection of Frei Otto's many works. Further information is available at external link 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
Captivated by nature
"Architecture is the mother of all ruins"
Hidden world of valiant ideas
"Playfully" lightweight structures
Biography: Frei Otto
Incentive timeline