German architect Frei Otto has become the posthumous recipient of the 2015 Pritzker Prize for architecture, following his death earlier this week, The New York Times has reported. Otto first became known in the 1950s for tent structures used as temporary pavilions at the Federal Garden Show in Germany and other events, before going on to design the much-praised roof canopies for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, in collaboration with Günter Behnisch.
In 2006, Otto was awarded the 18th annual Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture, awarded by the Japan Art Association and in 2005 he received the Royal Gold Medal for architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Architect Frank Gehry was scheduled to award Otto the Pritzker Prize at a ceremony on 15 May at the New World Center in Miami. Instead past Pritzker laureates will use the occasion to speak about Otto’s life and work.
11 March 2015
