Helmut Jahn


Helmut Jahn was a German and American architect, known for projects such as the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany; the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany; the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago; One Liberty Place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Bangkok, Thailand, among others.
His recent projects included 50 West Street, a residential tower in New York City in 2016; and the ThyssenKrupp Test Tower in Rottweil, Germany, in 2017. He was also behind 1000M in Chicago which began construction in 2019.
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Life and career

Image:SonyCenterAtNight.jpg|thumb|250px|An illuminated, suspended, oval roof covers the 102 m span of the central Forum of the Sony Center, Berlin.
Jahn was born January 4, 1940, in Zirndorf, near Nuremberg, Germany. His father, Wilhelm Anton Jahn, was a schoolteacher in special education. His mother, Karolina Wirth, was a housewife. Jahn grew up watching the reconstruction of the city, which had been largely destroyed by Allied bombing campaigns.
He studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich from 1960 to 1965, and worked with for a year after graduation. In 1966, he went to Chicago to further study architecture under Myron Goldsmith and Fazlur Khan at the Illinois Institute of Technology on a Rotary Scholarship, earning a Master's degree in 1967.

Murphy/Jahn

Jahn joined Murphy (architect)|Charles Francis Murphy]'s architecture firm, C. F. Murphy Associates, in 1967 and was appointed Executive Vice President and Director of Planning and Design of the firm in 1973. He took sole control in 1981, renaming the firm Murphy/Jahn. Murphy died in 1985.

Death

Jahn was killed after being hit by two cars on May 8, 2021, while riding his bicycle in Campton Hills, a suburb of Chicago. The collision happened near his home and horse farm in St. Charles, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

Architectural style and influences

Generally inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, yet opposed to the doctrinal application of modernism by his followers, in 1978, Jahn became the eighth member of the Chicago Seven. His architectural style shifted from the modernism of the Miesian tradition to a postmodernist one with high-tech stylizations. Jahn established his reputation in 1985 with the State of Illinois Center in Chicago which prompted him to be dubbed "Flash Gordon". In addition to the main seat in Chicago, the company has offices in Berlin and Shanghai.
On October 26, 2012, Helmut Jahn renamed Murphy/Jahn to simply JAHN.

Completed projects

Image:Aurarialibrary.JPG|thumb|Auraria Library
Image:James R. Thompson Center.JPG|thumb|James R. Thompson Center
Image:OHare Airport Terminal One B to C Tunnel.jpg|thumb|O'Hare International Airport, Chicago – interior view of the connecting tunnel between Concourses B & C of Terminal 1, with Michael Hayden's neon installation Sky's the Limit.
[Image:Bofatower.jpg|thumb|Bank of America Tower (1990)]
Image:OneAmericaPlazaSDSept10.jpg|thumb|One America Plaza
[Image:1999 K Street NW.JPG|thumb|1999 K Street, NW in Washington, D.C.]
Image:191017 Neues Kranzler-Eck.jpg|thumb|Facade of Neues Kranzler Eck, Berlin
Following is a partial list of completed projects:
In his native town of Nuremberg, however, a project by Jahn was rejected by a citizens' referendum in 1996.

Select awards

Personal life

Jahn was interested in yachting, and in the late 1990s owned at least three yachts named Flash Gordon. In 1995, Jahn's Flash Gordon 2 won the annual Chicago to Mackinac Race, the oldest freshwater yacht race in the world. In 1998, Jahn invited his fellow Vietnam War veteran, George Henry, to race with him in the Waterbury Channel Open. In 1997, Flash Gordon 3 won the Admiral's Cup. It was the Farr 40 design yacht called Flash Gordon 6 that he had the most success winning the 2012 Farr 40 World Championship and they captured three straight North American Championship between 2015 and 2017.
He married Deborah Ann Lampe, an interior designer, in December 1970. Their son Evan was born in 1978.