1925 - 2015

Jürgen Joedicke, one of Germany’s most renowned architectural historians, died in Stuttgart on 6 May, a few weeks after turning 90. After completing his studies in Weimar in 1950, Joedicke embarked on a long and fruitful academic career, throughout which he published significant titles like A History of Modern Architecture (1958), followed by several books devoted to German organicism and to his most admired architect, Hugo Häring, a leading representative of expressionism in his country. From 1961 on he was the editor of the influential Dokumente der modernen Architektur, which featured texts in German by prominent figures like the British Reyner Banham or by the Greek architect George Candilis. Jürgen Joedicke combined his work as architectural historian with professional practice, and was a member of the team, together with the 2015 Pritzker laureate Frei Otto and the deconstructivist Günther Behnisch, among other architects, that won the public competition to build the famed stadium for the 1972 Olympic Games of Munich.