The Pritzker Architecture Prize, awarded annually to a living architect whose work embodies contributions to humanity and to the field of architecture, will honor the 2015 Pritzker Prize winner, Frei Otto—who passed away in March—with a ceremony tonight in Miami. Otto, a German architect and engineer famous for his structural expressionism, had been notified by the Pritzker Prize committee about the award, but died soon afterward.
As Edward Keegan, AIA, wrote in an obituary for Otto, he excelled in lightweight structures with research and development that led to economical tensile structures well ahead of their time:
The most important of his works was surely the memorable tensile structures he created (with Behnisch & Partner and others) for the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. The diaphanous forms that floated over a series of contiguous structures including the main stadium and the other main facilities stood as a statement of his career’s research interests—and as a stark contrast to Germany’s previous Olympics venue, the heavy neoclassical stadium created by Albert Speer for the 1936 Berlin Games held during Otto’s youth in the city.
The Pritzker Prize will live-stream its awards ceremony tonight at 8pm EDT. Tune in below or at http://livestream.com/accounts/263313/events/3971176
For more information and images on Frei Otto’s work, visit ARCHITECT’s Project Gallery.