Frei Otto

Free Paul Otto ( born May 31, 1925 in Sigmar, now Chemnitz ) is a German architect, architectural theorist and professor. His work in lightweight, with cable networks, grid shells and other tensile structures made ​​him one of the most important architects of the 20th century. He is one next to Richard Buckminster Fuller and Santiago Calatrava to the most important representatives of a biomorphic architecture ( Organic architecture ).

  • 7.1 Biographies
  • 7.2 Articles and interviews

Life and work

The beginnings

His first name is free on his mother back ( it should have been their motto ). Otto's parents were members of the Deutscher Werkbund. Originally wanted to Frei Otto as his father and grandfather are also a sculptor. On the trade school Otto came by his teacher with the gliding and the model in contact. Upon acquisition of the sailing ticket he was able to deepen his knowledge of lightweight construction and frame stretched membrane. In 1943 he took up his studies in architecture at the Technische Hochschule Berlin, which was interrupted by his military service. That same year, he was trained as a fighter pilot and deployed.

Years of study

Otto finally got into French captivity. During his captivity, he was involved in the design of a POW camp with several buildings in a cost-effective lightweight construction. An inspiration was the daily sight of the stone in the form of lightweight construction of the Cathedral of Chartres for him. In 1948 he began studying architecture at the Technical University Berlin again. In 1950 he was selected as a fellow of his faculty to study for half a year in the United States can. On his trip to America, he became acquainted with the leading architects of his time and their buildings: Erich Mendelsohn, Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright and Fred Severud. From this study trip grew his friendship with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He later corrected on the latter's request, the statics of the New National Gallery in West Berlin, while he added the four main pillars to two inconspicuous struts on each side. In 1954 he published his dissertation entitled " The hanging roof ", which represents the structural engineering zugbeanspruchter shell structure.

Practitioner, founder and visionary

Otto opened in 1952 in Berlin -Zehlendorf own architectural practice in 1957, he founded a development center for lightweight construction. From 1958 he was a guest lecturer at the School of Design in Ulm, where he led a number of projects. At the Technical University Berlin in 1961, he founded the research group Biology and Building. The Institute for Lightweight Structures (IL ), the Otto founded in 1964 at the Technical University in Stuttgart, served as a model for the German Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. In his Institute he developed in interaction with biologists such as Johann Gerhard - Helmcke, physicians and paleontologists natural constructions that are based on pneumatic and biological design principles. For example, in 1960 he designed a freestanding bell tower of a church in Berlin- Schönow / Zehlendorf on the model of the skeleton of a diatom. In 1969 he was appointed Head of the Collaborative Research Centre 64 Long-span tensile structures by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

There are not many buildings, responsible for the Otto stands alone; many of its buildings were developed in collaboration with colleagues and with the involvement of users. Otto describes himself primarily as a source of ideas. " I have little built. I have devised many ' castles in the air '. "

Frei Otto is still active as an architect in his studio in Warmbronn in Leonberg, along with his wife Ingrid and his daughter Christine Kanstinger. Since the 1980s, Otto realized with his disciple Mahmoud Bodo Rasch and its architectural firm Rasch Bradatsch (SL Rasch GmbH ), including Tent roof structures in the Islamic world.

Roof structures

The tent-like roof structures are among the most famous buildings of Otto. The optimal shape of its roofs Otto developed through experimentation with wire models, which he plunged into soapy water, and were then covered by a soap film with the least possible surface area, a minimal surface. However, this basic form represents only a part of his ideas and buildings, as more elementary forms are the Pneu, grid shells and rope nets mentioned. He transferred that natural shaping principle then on the cable networks by hanging up these networks, stabilized their form and they eventually fell over. One of the first tent-like constructions of free in 1957, the star wave tent in Cologne Dance wells. According to this method the shape he also designed lattice shells made of long wooden slats as the world's first with the multi-purpose hall in Mannheim.

With Günter Behnisch and his architectural firm, he realized from 1968 to 1972 the roofing of the main sports venue area at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. The selected roof structure is ultimately based on his designs, after Behnisch turned to the ideas themselves due to unexpected difficulties. The architecture magazine chose houses in 2003, this ensemble the most important German building of all time. However, Otto was the roof structure due to unnoticed static requirements much too massive. Ultimately, it was the Stuttgart Civil Jörg Schlaich, who made the design buildable. More likely, however, the airy and almost invisible aviary in Munich Hellabrunn meet his expectations from light construction. This plant has become a landmark of the zoo. With the transience and beauty of his materials, he illustrated in 1977 a tour of Pink Floyd in the form of huge upturned umbrellas. For the Stuttgart 21 project, he designed the light eyes. In August 2010, he stated that because of threats to life and limb of the user of the station, the construction project should be stopped.

Bridges

From Frei Otto originate different bridges that are remarkably light in both the suspension and in the side surface design. An example can be found in the Ruhr: the pedestrian bridges in the landscape park Mechtenberg.

Buildings (selection)

Honors and Awards

Monographs

  • Otto Frei ( eds.): subject to tension structures. Shape, structure and calculation of buildings of cables, nets, and membranes. Ullsteinhaus, Frankfurt, Berlin. 1962: Vol 1: Pneumatic structures by Frei Otto. Calculation of the membranes of Rudolf Trostel. Tension anchorage in the ground by Frei Otto. 1966: Vol 2: Basic concepts and overview of tensile structures.
  • Otto Frei: Natuerliche constructions. Shapes and structures in nature and technology, and processes of their creation. DVA, Stuttgart 1982. - Over Baubionik
  • Light. A work of the subproject C1 " Creation Processes of objects in nature and technology " in the Collaborative Research Center 230 " Natural Constructions ". Text and sketches by Frei Otto. Univ. Stuttgart, Collaborative Research Center 230, 1985.
  • Bach, Klaus: soap bubbles. A research of the Institute for Lightweight Structures on minimal surfaces = Forming bubbles. Edited by Frei Otto. Krämer, Stuttgart, 1988, 400 pp., zahlr. Ill. Mittlg. the Institute for Lightweight Structures, ISBN 3-7828-2018-5
  • Otto Frei: taking shape. To shape formation in nature, technology and architecture. Müller, Cologne 1988.
  • Otto Frei: The hanging roof. Shape and structure. With afterwords by Frei Otto, Rainer Graefe and Christian Harmful. DVA, Stuttgart, 1990 ( reprint of the 1954 published in the construction world -Verlag dissertation - first summary zugbeanspruchter surface structures).
  • Dunkelberg, Klaus: Bamboo - Building with vegetable sticks. Bamboo. Franco- Engl. Edited by Frei Otto. Krämer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-7828-2031-2. ( = Messages of the Institute for Lightweight Structures, University of Stuttgart, 31 )

Literature on Frei Otto

  • Conrad Roland: Frei Otto - spans. Ideas and attempts to lightweight construction. A workshop report. Ullsteinhaus, Berlin 1965.
  • Conrad Roland: Wearing skins. Published by the Association of Swiss Architects free -employed. Editors:. Lisbeth Sachs Niggli, Niederteufen 1973 ( = archithese, Issue 6 ).
  • Karin Wilhelm: Portrait Frei Otto. Quadriga, Berlin 1985.
  • Conrad Roland: Architects - Frei Otto. Edited by Dieter Hezel. IRB Verlag, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8167-1817-5.
  • Karin Wilhelm: Planned poetry. Selected work of Frei Otto and his teams 1955-2000. Edited by Christina Ossowski. Leonberg 2001, ISBN 3-933636-07-8.
  • Winfried Nerdinger (eds.): Frei Otto. The Complete Works. Easy build, of course, make. Assisted by Irene Meissner, Eberhard Möller and Mirjana Grdanjski. Birkhäuser, Basel et al. / Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7643-7233-8.

Movies

  • Frei Otto. From soap bubbles and tents. Documentary, Germany, 2005, 60 min, written and directed by Louis Saul, Production: SWR, arte, Original Air Date: arte, 22 April 2005 Production: mega heart, SWR, arte, Summary of mega heart.
  • Build how nature - Frei Otto and the Munich Olympic roof. Documentary, Germany, 2003, 14:40 min, Book: Magdalena Henry, Director: Karin Atzenbeck, Production: Inter / Action, BR -alpha, MDR, WDR, SWR, German wave series: Milestones of Science and Technology, Summary Planet of the school.
Neue Nationalgalerie Zehlendorf (Berlin) Visiting scholar Ulm School of Design Gridshell Hellabrunn Zoo Bundesgartenschau Wilkhahn Berliner Kunstpreis American Institute of Architects Thomas Jefferson Honda Wolf Prize Royal Gold Medal Pinakothek der Moderne Praemium Imperiale Westdeutscher Rundfunk Deutsche Welle Frankfurter Rundschau Deutsche Bauzeitung Integrated Authority File
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