Lecture date: 2003-11-05
Undoubtedly the master of modern light construction, architect and engineer Frei Otto is a collaborator to the core. Since the 1950s, he has been an outstanding innovator in the field of lightweight tensile and membrane structures, pioneering many advances in structural mathematics and civil engineering. His best-known works are the German Pavilion for the 1967 Expo in Montreal, designed with Rolf Gutbrod, and the roof structure of the Olympic Sport Stadium in Munich, Germany, with Behnisch and Leonhardt (1972).
Otto originally used models to test complex tensile shapes, but as the scale of his projects grew he turned to computers, then an unusual step. Otto returns to the AA to discuss his work – including the Workshop and other experimental structures at Hooke Park created in collaboration with Buro Happold and Ahrends Burton and Koralek.
After the lecture (introduced by Richard Burton) Frei Otto will be awarded an honorary AA Diploma.
