Frei Otto. Thinking in Models – Wilkhahn recommends architecture exhibition at the ZKM Karlsruhe

20.02.2017 | by Wilkhahn Germany
Frei Otto working at the swimming pool canapy model for the Olympic Park Munich © saai | Südwestdeutsches Archiv für Architektur und Ingenieurbau, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Werkarchiv Frei Otto

He was a Leonardo of the late stages of modernism. Frei Otto (1925-2015) was one of the 20th century’s most inspired architects and design researchers. Until 12 March 2017, the ZKM in Karlsruhe is devoting an in-depth retrospective to the architect who was posthumously awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2015. Wilkhahn and Frei Otto have strong ties. Back in the 1980s Otto designed four wooden production pavilions for the Wilkhahn site in Bad Münder. These are not just unique from a design standpoint, but also reflect the architect’s approach to architecture because they take into account the needs of the company’s workforce.

Wilkhahn factory pavilions in Bad Münder, © Wilkhahn

This exhibition, put together by Georg Vrachliotis in conjunction with Marc Frohn, Martin Kunz and Joachim Kleinmanns, focuses less on the buildings and more on Otto’s experimental approach to his work, processes and sources of inspiration. Frei Otto’s model landscape includes over 200 models to scale and is sorted in terms of content and different contexts on a 50-metre-long table. The Frei Otto Kosmos shows photos and studies on 18 tables of natural structures, such as spider webs, soap bubbles or sand sculptures that influenced the work of the architect and keen glider pilot, or that he wanted to examine. Frei Otto’s offenes Archiv shows the key points in his timeline on 18 archive shelves. And a 25-metre-tall Frei Otto projection visualises his interdisciplinary mindset that straddled architecture, technology, science and society. The exhibition includes roughly 1,000 photos, drawings and plans, covers both of the ZKM’s atriums and will run until 12 March 2017.

 

For further information in German on the Frei Otto. Denken in Modellen exhibition click here.

Obituary for Frei Otto by Wilkhahn president Dr Jochen Hahne and Wilkhahn head of communications Burkhard Remmers

 

More information about Wilkhahn and its corporate architecture.

Interior shot of the multi-hall during the erection of the grid shell for national garden show 1975 in Mannheim © saai | Südwestdeutsches Archiv für Architektur und Ingenieurbau, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Werkarchiv Frei Otto
Frei Otto on the experimental setup of battens cupola for Montreal in Körschtal © saai | Südwestdeutsches Archiv für Architektur und Ingenieurbau, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Werkarchiv Frei Otto
The models of Wilkhahn factory pavilions (photographs: Burkhard Remmers, Wilkhahn)

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