"Architecture is the mother of all ruins"

In the beginning was the name "Frei" ("free"), thought up by his parents. A spirit of freedom held sway in the fledgling Weimar Republic. Hearing the name the parents had chosen, the astonished registrar said that a name like that wouldn't do the child any harm in the future.

Frei Otto was born the son of a sculptor, and as a child soon realised that he wanted to become an inventor. He was constantly inventing all kinds of things: from a sewing machine to model aircraft. After taking his Abitur in 1943, he was called up for military service. The gliders and model airplanes made of pheasant feathers had to be left at home.

Late in 1944 Otto underwent training as a fighter pilot. When the war ended, he was held as a prisoner of war, first by the Americans and then by the French – hunger, uncertainty and work as a camp architect in Würzburg, Mutterstadt and Chartres. His first designs were for barracks and cemeteries. As soon as he was released he designed a children's playground and took part in a design competition in Berlin called "Around the Zoo".