Albert Speer Jr.

1934-2017

Albert Speer Jr. belonged to a saga of architects, though this cannot be considered an advantage for the 12-year-old child who saw how they sent his father, Albert Speer Sr. – Hitler’s architect – to the Berlin prison of Spandau, which we wouldn’t leave until 1966. The young Speer worked as a carpenter before studying architecture (and thus following the family tradition) in Munich. In 1964, shortly after graduating, he set up his own office in Frankfurt and started a long professional career during which he managed to combine, with formal efficiency and organizational talent, the attention to big architecture projects with the development of urban plans. Professional success led to the creation of Büro Albert Speer & Partner – one of the largest offices in Germany –, which has completed a long list of buildings in Germany (Victoria Tower in Mannheim, German Pavilion at the Hannover Expo 2000) and abroad (from Saudi Arabia to China), as well as large sports projects, like the plans for the stadiums in the World Cups of South Africa (2010) and Qatar (2022).