Frei Otto: Building with Nature

Winner of the Architecture Book of the Year Award 2025 - Practice Monograph

Drawing on the latest research and exclusive access to archival materials, this visually stunning monograph traces Otto’s groundbreaking career as one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential architects.

Published to mark the architect’s centennial, this beautifully illustrated book celebrates Frei Otto’s groundbreaking achievements in creating lightweight architectural structures and pioneering sustainable design practices.

Featuring insightful essays by leading scholars and a thematic overview of his most important works, the book investigates Otto’s mastery of tensile structures, his innovative application of biological principles to architecture, and his trailblazing use of unconventional materials and construction techniques.

Otto’s forward-thinking approach paved the way for energy-efficient and environmentally conscious architecture long before these ideas became mainstream. With plans and photographs from the saai archive for architecture and civil engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, which highlight the influence of natural concepts in his work, this monograph serves as an essential introduction to a visionary architect who provided a blueprint for creating sustainable, functional, and harmonious buildings.

JOAQUÍN MEDINA WARMBURG is a professor of History of Building and Architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He was previously a research fellow at Princeton University and visiting professor at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona and served as director of the Walter Gropius Chair of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.

ANNA-MARIA MEISTER is an architect, historian and writer, and professor for theory of architecture at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). She earned a PhD at Princeton University, holds degrees in architecture from Columbia University, New York, and the TU Munich and is a licensed architect.