March 11--A day after his death in Germany, architect Frei Otto, the designer of the tentlike structures for the 1972 Munich Olympics, was named the 2015 winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the field's highest honor.
Otto, 89, died Monday in Germany, the award organization said in a news release. The Pritzker Prize, announced Tuesday, was originally scheduled to be awarded March 23.
Sponsored by Chicago's billionaire Pritzker family, the annual award recognizes "consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture."
The award comes with $100,000 and a bronze medallion.
Previous winners include Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei. Most recent winners have come Europe and Asia.
The nine-member jury that selects the winner consists of architectural experts from around the world.
In its citation, the jury noted that, "Throughout his life, Frei Otto has produced imaginative, fresh, unprecedented spaces and constructions. He has also created knowledge. Herein resides his deep influence: not in forms to be copied, but through the paths that have been opened by his research and discoveries. His contributions to the field of architecture are not only skilled and talented, but also generous.
"For his visionary ideas, inquiring mind, belief in freely sharing knowledge and inventions, his collaborative spirit and concern for the careful use of resources, the 2015 Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded to Frei Otto."
bkamin@tribune.com
