FREI OTTO (31 May 1925- )

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FREI OTTO(31 May 1925- )

•  German architect and structural engineer.

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LIFE

• Began experimenting with tents for shelter
•  After the war he studied briefly in the United
  States
• Visited Erich Mendelsohn, Mies van der Rohe,
  Richard Neutra, and Frank Lloyd Wright
• Began private practice in Germany in 1952
• Awards

1974 Thomas Jefferson Medal in Architecture 1996/7
 Wolf Prize in Architecture 2005 RIBA Royal Gold
Medal
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Style .

• authority on lightweight tensile and membrane
  structures
• concerned with space frames and structural
  efficiency
•  experimented with inflatable buildings
•  structure constructed using two layers
  of membrane connected together
• cavity formed between the layers is pressurized
  with air producing a rigid structural element
•  pavilions, airships, furniture, airspace
  structures, boats, escape slides, security
  mattresses, swimming pools, coverings, games and c
  astles, air bags

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Academics.

• Otto founded the famous Institute for Lightweight
  Structures at the University of Stuttgart in 1964 

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List of Buildings

• 1967 - West Germany Pavilion at Expo 67 Montreal
• 1970 - Tuwaiq Palace, Saudi Arabia, with Buro
  Happold
• 1972 - Roof for Olympic Stadium, Munich
• 2000 - Roof structure of the Japanese Pavilion
  at Expo 2000, Hanover Germany (provided
  engineering assistance with Buro Happold and
  architectural collaboration with Shigeru Ban)

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Olympic Stadium (Munich)

• original capacity of 80,000
•  large sweeping canopies
• of acrylic glass stabilized
• by steel cables

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Plan
Aerial View
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Details
 the tensile glass tent-like roof 
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Tuwaiq Palace

• Recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture,
  1998. 

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Tuwaiq Palace

• enclosed by inclined curved walls, forming a
  sinuous curvilinear spine 800 m long, 12 m high,
  and 7-13 m wide, used for guest services and
  accommodations
• outdoor sports facilities, gardens, and extensive
  landscaping laid out in a pattern of
  complementary spirals, circles, and curves, in
  harmony with the building's undulations

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• Mushrooming from the spine are tents supported by
  tensile-structure technology
• design makes reference to two local archetypes -
  the fortress and the tent

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• The tents enclose the large-scale spaces main
  lounges, reception areas, multi-purpose halls,
  restaurants, and a café
•  dramatic contrast between the lush greenery of
  the outdoor spaces enclosed by the spine and the
  arid rocky plateau beyond its walls
• The white tents are made of Teflon-coated, woven
  fibre fabric
•  The tents are enclosed by glass walls

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SECTION