Gottfried Böhm

In 1986, he became the first German architect to be awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize. Among the most recently completed construction projects involving Böhm are the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam (2006) and the Cologne Central Mosque, completed in 2018. In honor of Gottfried Böhm, the City of Cologne has been awarding the Gottfried Böhm Scholarship for postgraduate architects together with the Technische Hochschule Köln and the Verein der Freunde & Förderer der Technischen Hochschule Köln e.V. since 2023.

• Name — Gottfried Böhm • Born — 23 January 1920 • Birthplace — Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Germany • Died — 9 June 2021 • Place of death — Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany • Alma Mater — Technische Hochschule, Munich • Significant Buildings — Maria, Königin des Friedens in Neviges Bensberg City Hall • Awards — Pritzker Prize • Illustration — 1960 Herz-Jesu-Kirche, Bergisch Gladbach • Illustration — Böhm's 1968 Iglesia Youth Center Library, Cologne • Illustration — Maria, Königin des Friedens pilgrimage church, Neviges, Germany

Böhm was born in Offenbach am Main near Frankfurt on 23 January 1920. He was the youngest of three children of Maria and Dominikus Böhm. His father was renowned for his numerous avant-garde churches throughout Germany, many in Expressionist style. His grandfather was also an architect. Böhm was conscripted into the Wehrmacht at the outset of World War II. He served until he was injured in 1942 during Operation Barbarossa and consequently returned to Germany. After graduating from the Technische Hochschule, Munich, in 1946, he studied sculpture at a nearby fine-arts academy. Gottfried later integrated his clay model making skills acquired during this time at the academy into his design process.

After graduating in 1947, Gottfried worked for his father until the latter's death in 1955, and later took over his firm. During this period, he also worked with the "Society for the Reconstruction of Cologne" under Rudolf Schwarz. In 1951, he traveled to New York City and worked for six months in the architectural firm of Cajetan Baumann. While traveling in the United States he met two of his greatest inspirations, German architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. In the following decades, Böhm constructed many buildings around Germany, including museums, civic centers, office buildings, homes, apartment buildings and churches. He is considered to have been both an expressionist and post-Bauhaus architect, but he preferred to define himself as an architect who created "connections" between the past and the future, between the world of ideas and the physical world, between a building and its urban surroundings. In this vein, Böhm always envisioned the color, form, and materials of a building in relationship with its setting. His earlier projects were done mostly in molded concrete, but more recently he employed more steel and glass in his buildings due to the technical advancements in both materials. His concern for urban planning is evident in many of his projects, harping back to his emphasis on "connections". In addition to Germany, Böhm designed buildings in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Turin, Italy. A 2014 documentary titled "Concrete Love – The Böhm Family" explores Gottfried's relationship with his sons and his wife.

Böhm was married to Elizabeth Haggenmüller, also an architect, until her death in 2012. He met her in 1948 while studying in Munich. She assisted him in several of his projects, mainly through interior design. Together, they had four sons: Stephan, Peter, Paul and Markus. The first three also became architects, while Markus worked as a painter. Böhm turned 100 in January 2020. Böhm died on the night of 9 June 2021 at his home in Cologne, aged 101. The cause of death was not disclosed.

• Illustration — Bensberg City Hall, seen against old castle • Illustration — 2017 Cologne Central Mosque • 1947–50 St. Kolumba, Cologne • 1962–69 Bensberg City Hall • 1962-65 St. Gertrud, Cologne • 1968–72 Maria, Königin des Friedens pilgrimage church, Neviges • 1968–70 Christi Auferstehung (Church of Resurrection), Cologne

The following is established of the heading itself. Institutional cataloguing adds that gottfried Böhm is recorded as Germany.

The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Institutional cataloguing adds that gottfried Böhm is recorded with the occupation architect. Recorded with the occupation sculptor. Recorded with the occupation university teacher. Institutional cataloguing adds that gottfried Böhm died on 9 June 2021. It is also recorded that gottfried Böhm was born in Offenbach am Main. Böhm worked at Cologne. The record continues: gottfried Böhm worked at Aachen. Institutional cataloguing adds that gottfried Böhm is recorded as a citizen of Germany. Recorded with the gender male.