Helmut Jahn

Helmut Jahn, born in 1940, German American architect, known for bold, colorful designs that emphasize technology. Many of Jahn’s inventive skyscrapers, airport terminals, and industrial buildings use daring structural design, bold sculptural form, and shimmering glass curtain walls to express their modernity. His later skyscrapers, such as Cityspire (1989, New York City), feature detailed decorative tops that recall the art deco skyscrapers of the 1930s, such as the Chrysler Building in New York City.

Born in Nürnberg, Germany, and educated at the Technische Hochschule (Technical College) in Munich, Jahn came to the United States and attended the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago from 1966 to 1967. There he was influenced by the disciplined, technically oriented architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other Chicago architects. He joined the noted Chicago firm of C. F. Murphy and Associates in 1967 and became a partner there in 1981, when the firm became known as Murphy/Jahn. From 1989 to 1993 he taught at IIT.

Jahn’s first major works—a tower at One South Wacker Drive (1982) and the State of Illinois Center (1985), both in Chicago—were noted for their high-tech appearance, sculptural forms, and jewel-like use of colored glass and metal. He also dazzled the design world with his United Airlines Terminal at Chicago’s O'Hare International Airport (1987), which efficiently processes large numbers of passengers while entertaining them with futuristic effects of light and color.

Jahn continued to incorporate light and color in later buildings. The Sony Center (1993-2000) in Berlin, Germany, consists of seven buildings sheathed in glass. The large central plaza that the buildings face is topped by an umbrella-like structure, which offers protection from the elements during working hours and which glows at night in light of different colors. Jahn’s Halo Headquarters in Niles, Illinois, utilizes the transparency of glass to display the building’s structure. With their working parts visible, glass elevators inside the seven-story building act as moving sculptures.