Helmut Jahn (January 4, 1940 – May 8, 2021) was a German-American architect, known for projects such as the Sony Center on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, Germany; the Messeturm in Frankfurt, Germany; the 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 50 West Street is a 64-story, tall mixed-use retail and residential condominium tower developed by Time Equities Inc. in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It contains 191 residential units. Site The building is located on 50 West Street, in the ...

, a residential tower in New York City in 2016 and the ThyssenKrupp Test Tower in Rottweil, Germany in 2017.

Life and career

Jahn was born Jan. 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

Charles Francis Murphy Charles Francis "Silent Charlie" Murphy (June 20, 1858 – April 25, 1924), also known as Boss Murphy, was an American political figure. He was also the longest-serving head of New York City's Tammany Hall, a position he served from 1902 to ...

'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 (even though

Murphy Murphy () ( ga, Ua Murchadha) is an Irish surname and the most common surname in the Republic of Ireland. Origins and variants The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: "Ó Murchadha"/"Ó Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), and "Mac ...

had retired). Murphy died in 1985.

Death

Jahn was killed 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 St. Charles is a city in DuPage and Kane counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It lies roughly west of Chicago on Illinois Route 64. Per the 2020 census, the population was 33,081. The official city slogan is "Pride of the Fox", after the F ...

, a Chicago suburb.

Architectural style and influences

Generally inspired by

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

, 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 The James R. Thompson Center (JRTC), originally the State of Illinois Center, is a postmodern-style civic building designed by architect Helmut Jahn, located at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop district of Chicago. It houses offices of the Ill ...

in Chicago which prompted him to be dubbed "

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

". 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

Following is a partial list of completed projects: *1974 Kemper Arena,

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

*1976 Kansas City Convention Center, also known as H. Roe Bartle Exhibition Hall,

Miller, Nory. Helmut Jahn. New York: NY Rizzoli International Publications Inc. 1986. Print *1976 Auraria Learning Resources Center, Auraria Higher Education Center, Denver, Colorado *1976 John Marshall Courts Building,

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

*1977

Michigan City Public Library The Michigan City Public Library is a one level facility located in Michigan City, Indiana. It was designed by the world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn. Jahn designed the building while working for the Chicago architecture firm C.F. Murphy, w ...

Michigan City, Indiana Michigan City is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, Indiana Metropolitan statistical area, which is included in the Chicago-Naperville-Michigan City Combined sta ...

*1977 Saint Mary's College Athletic Facility,

Notre Dame, Indiana Notre Dame is a census-designated place and unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend in St. Joseph County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. It includes the campuses of three colleges: the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary's Coll ...

*1978 W.W. Grainger Headquarters, Skokie, Illinois *1978 Rust-Oleum Corporation International Headquarters, Vernon Hills, Illinois *1978 La Lumiere Gymnasium,

La Porte, Indiana La Porte (French for "The Door") is a city in LaPorte County, Indiana, United States, of which it is the county seat. Its population was estimated to be 21,341 in 2022. It is one of the two principal cities of the Michigan City-La Porte, India ...

*1979 Imperial Bank Tower

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

*1980 Horizon Bank (515 5th Street Bank)

*1980 Xerox Centre, (55 West Monroe St) Chicago *1981 United States Post Office, Oak Brook, Illinois *1981 De La Garza Career Center, East Chicago, Indiana *1981 Commonwealth Edison Company District Headquarters, Bolingbrook, Illinois *1982 Argonne Program Support Facility,

Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research United States Department of Energy National Labs, national laboratory operated by University of Chicago, UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy. The facil ...

, Illinois *1982 Eagle River Vacation House (The Jahn House) Eagle River, Wisconsin *1982 Area 2 Police Headquarters, Chicago *1982

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

Addition Chicago *1982 One South Wacker Chicago *1983 Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building Addition University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois *1983 Learning Resources Center, College of DuPage,

Glen Ellyn, Illinois Glen Ellyn is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. A suburb located due west of downtown Chicago, the village has a population of 28,846 as of the 2020 Census. History Glen Ellyn, like the neighboring town to the east, Lomba ...

*1983 First Source Centre, South Bend, Indiana *1984

11 Diagonal Street 11 Diagonal Street is a skyscraper in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was built in 1983 to a height of 80 metres. It is designed to look like a diamond as it reflects different views of the Central Business District from each angle of the building. ...

, Johannesburg, South Africa *1984 Plaza East Office Towers, Milwaukee *1984 Shand Morahan Corporate Headquarters, Evanston, Illinois *1984 701 Building (Craig-Hallom Building), Minneapolis *1984 O'Hare 'L' Station, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago *1985

James R. Thompson Center The James R. Thompson Center (JRTC), originally the State of Illinois Center, is a postmodern-style civic building designed by architect Helmut Jahn, located at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop district of Chicago. It houses offices of the Il ...

, Chicago *1985 362 West Street, Durban, South Africa *1986 Parktown Stands 102, 103, 85, 879, Johannesburg, South Africa *1986 MetroWest Office Building (2 Energy Center), Naperville, Illinois *1986 Oakbrook Terrace Tower, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois *1987 Park Avenue Tower, New York City *1987 425 Lexington Avenue, New York City *1987 United Airlines Terminal 1 at

O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...

, Chicago *1987 America Apartments – 300 East

85th Street 85th Street is a westbound-running street, running from East End Avenue to Riverside Drive in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. At Fifth Avenue, the street feeds into the 86th Street transverse, which runs east–west through Central P ...

, New York, NY *1987 One Liberty Place, Philadelphia *1987 Cityspire, New York City *1987 Citigroup Center, Chicago *1988 Wilshire/Westwood, Los Angeles *1989 Trade Hall 1 (Halle 1), Frankfurt, Germany *1989 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Headquarters, 130 Livingston Street, Downtown Brooklyn *1990 Bank of America Tower, Jacksonville, Florida *1990 Two Liberty Place, Philadelphia *1991 One America Plaza, San Diego *1991 Messeturm, Frankfurt, Germany *1992 Hyatt Regency, Roissy, Paris *1992

120 North LaSalle 120 North LaSalle is a 501 ft (153m) high-rise office building in Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed from 1989 to 1992. It is the 89th tallest building in the city. The building is LEED Gold-certified under the LEED EB&OM (Existing Buildi ...

, Chicago, Illinois *1993

Hitachi Tower 16 Collyer Quay, formerly Hitachi Tower, is a 37- storey, , skyscraper in the central business district of Singapore. It is located on 16 Collyer Quay, in the zone of Raffles Place, near Chevron House, Change Alley, Tung Centre, and The Arcade ...

, Singapore *1993

Caltex House Caltex House may refer to the following buildings that were named Caltex House when built: *Chevron House 30 Raffles Place, formerly called Chevron House and Caltex House, is a high-rise skyscraper located in the central business district of Sin ...

, Singapore *1994 Hotel Kempinski, Munich, Germany *1994 Kurfürstendamm 70, Berlin, Germany *1996 Fortis Bank Tower (Blaak 555), Rotterdam, Netherlands *1996 Principal Financial Group Corporate Four Building, Des Moines, Iowa *1997 RCID Administration Building,

Buena Vista, Florida Buena Vista is a neighborhood in Miami, Florida, United States. It is located south of Little Haiti, north of the Miami Design District. Buena Vista is primarily a residential neighborhood with historic single-family homes primarily from the 19 ...

*1998

Generale Bank Nederland A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OE ...

, Rotterdam, Netherlands *1999 European Union Charlemagne building, Brussels, Belgium *1999 Munich Airport Center, Germany *2000 Sony Center Berlin, Germany *2000 Cologne Bonn Airport, Cologne, Germany *2000 HA·LO Headquarters (presently the headquarters of Shure), Niles, Illinois *2000 Imperial Bank Tower Renovation,

Blaser, Werner. Helmut Jahn Architecture Engineering. Basel, Berlin, Boston: Birkhauser Publishers for Architecture. 2002. Print *2001 Neues Kranzler Eck, Berlin, Germany *2002 Kaufhof Galeria,

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

, Germany *2002 Shanghai International Expo Centre, Shanghai, China *2002 Bayer AG Konzernzentrale *2003 Deutsche

Post Tower Post Tower is the headquarters of the logistic company Deutsche Post DHL with the two brands postal services for Germany ''Deutsche Post'' and the worldwide logistics company DHL. The Post Tower is a 162.5-metre, 41-storey office building in B ...

, Bonn, Germany *2003 IIT Student Housing, Chicago *2003 Highlight Munich Business Towers, Munich, Germany *2004 Mannheimer Corporate Headquarters, Mannheim, Germany *2004 Merck Serono Headquarters (Horizon Serono), Geneva, Switzerland *2005 Focus Media Center (Deutsche-Med-Platz), Rostock, Germany *2006 Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok, Thailand *2006 Seminaris Campus Hotel, Berlin, Germany *2007 Margot and Harold Schiff Residences, Chicago *2007 600 North Fairbanks, Chicago, USA *2008 Hegau Tower,

Singen Singen (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Singe'') is an industrial city in the very south of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany and just north of the German-Swiss border. Location Singen is an industrial city situated in the very south ...

, Germany *2009 South Campus Chiller Plant, University of Chicago Chicago *2009 1999 K Street, Washington, D.C. *2010 Hafen Tower (Sign Tower), Speditionstrasse 1–3 Düsseldorf, Germany *2010

Veer Towers Veer Towers are twin 37-story, , residential towers located within CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Each tower houses 335 luxury condominium units ranging from . The two towers were designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects of Chicag ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

USA *2010 Weser Tower,

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, Germany *2010 Bonn Airport Parking, Cologne, Germany *2011

Joe and Rika Mansueto Library The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library is the newest library of the University of Chicago, named after alumni Joe Mansueto and Rika Mansueto. The library has a capacity of 3.5 million volumes under an elliptical dome. It was designed by Helmut Jahn. ...

, Chicago, USA *2012 Leatop Plaza, Guangzhou, China *2012 Skyline Tower, Munich, Germany *2012 Japan Post, Tokyo, Japan *2013 Cosmopolitan Twarda 2/4, Warsaw, Poland *2014 Zunda Towers,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, Latvia *2016 Doha Exhibition and Convention Center, Qatar *2016 Shanghai Convention Center, Shanghai, China *2016

, New York City, USA *2017 ThyssenKrupp Test Tower, Rottweil, Germany *2017 1900 Reston Station, Reston, Virginia In his native town of Nuremberg, however, a project by Jahn was rejected by a citizens' referendum in 1996.

Select awards

*1991 – "Ten Most Influential Living American Architects" from the American Institute of Architects. *1993 – "Outstanding Achievement/Architect Award" from the

American Academy of Art The American Academy of Art College is a private art school in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of fine and commercial arts students. The school's Bill L. Parks Gallery is open to the public and features exhibitions ...

, Chicago. *1994 – Officer's cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany *2002 – Institute Honour Award of the American Institute of Architects for the Sony Center. *2005 – Murphy/Jahn, Inc. recipient of the AIA Architecture Firm Award. *2005 –

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

Legends Award *2012 – AIA Chicago Lifetime Achievement Award *2018 – ENR Safety Award of Merit: 1900 Metro Reston Plaza

Personal life

Jahn was interested in yachting, and in the late 1990s owned at least three yachts named ''

'' (one of his nicknames). 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. In 2017 the ''Flash Gordon 6'' team captured its third straight North American Championship. He married Deborah Ann Lampe, an interior designer, in December 1970. Their son Evan was born in 1978.

Images

Image:Frankfurt am Main Messeturm.jpg, Messeturm (Fair Tower), Frankfurt Image:Posttower Bonn 001.jpg, The Post Tower (Postal Tower), Bonn Image:Process progress.png, Exhibition "Process/Progress" Nuremberg, Germany 2012-2013

References

External links

Official website
*
Architect Helmut Jahn renames firm, promotes successorHighlight towers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahn, Helmut 1940 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American architects Technical University of Munich alumni Illinois Institute of Technology alumni Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German emigrants to the United States 20th-century German architects 21st-century American architects 21st-century German architects People from Fürth (district) Road incident deaths in Illinois People from St. Charles, Illinois Fellows of the American Institute of Architects Postmodern architects