Frei Otto

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(b. Siegmar, Saxiny Germany 1925)

Frei Otto was born in Siegmar, Saxiny in 1925. From 1931 to 1943 he attended Schadow School in Zehlendorf, Berlin as a trainee mason. After serving as a fighter pilot in World War II, he trained at the Technical University of Berlin from 1948 to 1950. In 1952 he established a studio at Zehlendorf and in 1957 he founded the Development Center for Lightweight Construction in Berlin. Seven years later he transferred the center's activities to the Institute for Lightweight Structures in Stuttgart.

Otto exhibited a special gift for creating lightweight tent-like structures. In the 1950s he used models to define and test complex tensile shapes. As the scale of his projects increased, Otto pioneered a computer-based procedure for determining their shape and behavior. He often created pavilions composed of primary membrane elements in an additive series. He also developed a convertible roof with a variable geometry.

Since 1972, Otto has studied biological structures and researched grid shells. An atypical architect, Otto usually acts as a catalyst for and provides research support to other architects.

References
Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991. ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p116-117.

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