The renowned architect Meinhard von Gerkan is dead. He died on Wednesday at the age of 87 in his adopted home of Hamburg. His architecture office planned 370 buildings worldwide. His most famous buildings in Germany are the Berlin Central Station and Tegel Airport.
Architect Meinhard von Gerkan is dead. He died in Hamburg on Wednesday at the age of 87, according to his GMP office, citing the family. His most famous buildings include the Berlin Central Station and the Berlin-Brandenburg and Tegel Airports.
His office GMP (Gerkan, Marg and Partners), which he managed together with Volkwin Marg, is one of the most successful German architecture offices with an international reputation, with branches all over the world. In addition to airports, museums, bridges and stadiums in Germany, the office has also realized many buildings abroad. With Lingang New City near Shanghai, a completely new city was created on the drawing board.
Gerkan was born on January 3, 1935 in Riga, Latvia. First he studied law and physics in Hamburg, then decided to study architecture in Berlin. Here he also met his future partner Volkwin Marg; together both went to the TU Braunschweig. After graduating, the two founded their world-renowned office GMP in Hamburg. An unprecedented success story followed.
Today, more than 400 employees worldwide work for the office, which has won many first prizes in competitive processes and completed more than 370 buildings. In addition to South Africa and Brazil, where football stadiums have been built, the office is primarily active in the Far East. Exhibition and congress centers, the National Museum in Beijing and the National Parliament in Hanoi are being built here. In addition to many awards, both architects received the "Grand Prize of the Association of German Architects" for their life's work in 2005.
