Rolf Georg Otto

Rolf Georg Otto (born April 30, 1924 in Bombay , India; † January 6, 2003 in Liestal , Switzerland) was a Swiss architect who built numerous modern, often sculptural, exposed concrete buildings in northwestern Switzerland and beyond, some in the style of the Brutalism created. His most important buildings include the new university building in St. Gallen and the congress center in Lugano .

Life

Rolf G. Otto was the son of the electrical engineer Paul Arthur Otto and his wife Louise, b. Leuthard. In 1952 he married the daughter of an electrical engineer, the painter Sonja Hersperger. After her death in 1969 he married Rosmarie Guggisberg in 1986.

After the boarding school of Stans (St. Fidelis College) reached Matura (Type A altsprachlich) studied architecture at the Otto ETH Zurich , where he graduated 1949th After traveling to Greece and Rome, he initially worked in the architecture office of Hermann Frey in Olten and with the architect Bourdillat in Paris. In 1952, at the invitation of Wilhelm Eduard Brodtbeck, he joined the renowned W. Brodtbeck & Fr. Bohny Arch. Office in Liestal, which was founded in 1901 and which Brodtbeck has been running with his partner Fritz Bohny since 1921. The new name for the office community was Bohny & Otto . In 1956, Fritz Bohny left the Bohny & Otto office community for reasons of age , and Rolf Georg Otto ran the office in Liestal under his own name.

Since 1963 with the partner Peter Müller, numerous buildings in modern regionalism were built in and around Liestal, including many residential buildings that clearly show the influence of the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright , whom he met personally in 1952. The architects Mario Cerri (from 1966), Andreas Ruegg (from 1968) and Joachim Geier (from 1971) worked for the Liestal office. In 1973, the Liestal office was converted into a partnership of Otto, Müller, Ruegg and Geier under the name Otto + Partner AG .

At the same time Otto teamed up with Walter Maria Förderer in 1956 , and from 1957 the office was based in Basel . In 1958, Hans Zwimpfer joined as a partner. The Förderer office community, which existed until 1964 . Otto + Zwimpfer Architekten built several internationally renowned buildings made of exposed concrete in the then modern brutalist style ("concrete brut"), including the congress center in Lugano .

In 1977 Otto founded another office in Lugano ( Otto + Associati SA , with Fritz Rüsch as partner and manager) and in 1980 in Rheinfelden AG ( Otto + Partner AG , with Cerri as partner and manager). Ruegg, Geier and Cerri took over the offices in Liestal and Rheinfelden in 1993.

Andri Seipel joined the office in 1996 and also became a partner in 2002. After Otto's death in 2003, the circle of partners expanded in 2005 to include Sergio Bianchi, who had been in the office since 1986, and Philippe Wälle, who joined in 2001. Philippe Wälle left the office in 2012 and Reto Koch, who joined the office in 2010, was appointed to the extended management team. Sergio Bianchi is stepping down from the office in 2015, the board of directors and the management are now composed of Mario Cerri (CEO), Andreas Ruegg, Andri Seipel and Reto Koch. The office is to be continued with these new partners. Despite the changing structure and composition, the office still exists today under the name Otto Partner Architekten AG . It is still one of the largest offices in north-western Switzerland and has made a significant contribution to the architecture in the canton of Basel-Land.

Otto was a member of the Swiss Association of Engineers and Architects (SIA), for many years also on its board, as well as a member of the Association of Swiss Architects (BSA). He was also involved with the site construction commission, the art commission and the homeland security commission of the canton of Basel-Landschaft and as a member of the Rotary Club Muttenz / Wartenberg. In the 1960s he was a member of the Liestal municipal council responsible for construction. In his free time he traveled to many regions of the world and was also active in sculpture and drawing. In addition to his penchant for design options with concrete as a building material, Otto dealt intensively with the relationship between people, space and lighting. A planned book publication on this remained unfinished, but he was able to finish a monograph about himself and his office, which appeared shortly before his death.

Selection of important buildings

University building in St. Gallen

Congress center in Lugano

The architecture office founded by Otto has taken part in a total of over 200 competitions to date and has won first prizes around 40 times. To date (as of early 2010) the office has realized well over 700 buildings. Several buildings were recognized as good architecture. It realized various school and sports facilities, old people's homes, church community centers, bank buildings and industrial buildings and was particularly influential in Liestal, but also created important buildings in the region and throughout Switzerland.

Otto + Partner AG

(Partner: RG Otto, P. Müller, A. Ruegg, J. Geier)

• 1991 Sappeten school building, Bubendorf BL
• 1991 Renovation of the Rösern rural school, Liestal
• 1991 Werkhof Erne AG , Laufenburg AG
• 1990 Sefco AG commercial building, Bottmingen
• 1990 Prodega AG commercial building , Reinach BL
• 1990 Head building competition, Laufenburg AG
• 1989 Alfa AG office building, Rheinfelden AG
• 1989 La Suisse Igelweid office building, Aarau
• 1989 Schindler Waggon box construction hall , Pratteln
• 1988 Conversion and expansion of the commercial school, Liestal
• 1988 Culture and Sports Center, Pratteln
• 1988 Community work yard and fire station, Laufenburg AG
• 1988 Rumpel & Co. factory building, Niederdorf BL
• 1987 Wölfer commercial building, Füllinsdorf
• 1986 Administration building of the Feldschlösschen brewery , Rheinfelden AG
• 1983 Hasler AG factory building, Niederdorf
• 1981 Calida AG factory and staff restaurant , Sursee
• 1976 Construction and management school, Unterentfelden
• Mid-1970s: Increase in the market hall, Basel (building award from the Basel Heimatschutz 1974/75)
• 1974 Metallum AG administration building, Pratteln
• 1974 Community center competition, Lausen BL
• 1974 Bread basket school complex, Stein AG
• 1974 Frenke school complex, Liestal

Office Rolf Georg Otto

(with partner Peter Müller)

• 1972 Liestal indoor swimming pool
• 1971 Werkhof Gnemmi AG, Liestal
• 1971 Eptingen AG factory building, Eptingen
• 1971 Rosenmund AG production building, Liestal
• 1971 Holinger AG office building, Liestal
• 1971 primary school, Oberdorf
• 1970 Terrace settlement Obere Berghalde, Liestal
• 1970 Autocenter Böhi AG, Liestal
• 1970 Community center and post office, Augst
• 1970 Rectory and retirement homes, Augst
• 1970 Congress Center (Palazzo dei Congressi) in Lugano ; Project management: Michael Alder
• 1969 Elektra Baselland company building , Liestal
• 1968 Gysin AG factory and office building, Oberdorf BL
• 1968 Gym and swimming pool, Frenkendorf
• 1968 Realschule, Frenkendorf
• 1967 Altmarkt telephone exchange, Liestal
• 1967 Post Office, Muttenz
• 1967 Knoll AG staff restaurant (pharmaceuticals manufacturer, now part of Abbott Laboratories ), Liestal
• 1967 Jtin + Kipfer office building, Liestal
• 1966 Hochuli AG residential and commercial building, Muttenz
• 1966 Residential and commercial building at Rathausstrasse. 55, Liestal
• 1966 Bank and residential building St. Jakobs-Str. 2, Muttenz
• 1966 Commercial vocational school, Liestal
• 1965 MFH Knoll AG, Liestal
• 1965 MFH high-rise Knoll AG, Liestal
• 1965 Schindler Waggon AG factory , Pratteln
• 1964 Hotel with congress center "zum Wilden Mann", Liestal
• 1960/64 (inauguration 1966): Brunnmattschulhaus, Basel (with sponsors and Zwimpfer; today listed in the inventory of buildings worthy of protection)
• 1961 primary school, Lausen
• 1959 Röserntal Girls' Education Home, Liestal
• 1959 (1957–63) New building for the University of Economics and Social Sciences , St. Gallen (with sponsors and Zwimpfer)
• 1958 Multi-family house Personalfürsorgestiftung Hanro AG, Liestal
• 1957 Frenkenbündten housing estate project, Liestal
• 1952 Buildings insurance Baselland, Liestal
• 1952 secondary school, Sissach

literature

• Dagmar Böcker: Rolf Georg Otto. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2009 .
• Hannes Ineichen (Ed.): Rolf G. Otto: Buildings and Projects 1952–1993. Otto + Partner AG Liestal Lugano Rheinfelden 1973–1993. (Monographs of Swiss Architects; 7), Verlag Niggli AG, Sulgen 2003, ISBN 978-3-7212-0483-4 .
• Poet and City Museum Liestal (Ed.): «From Brodtbeck and Bohny to Otto + Partner. Architecture from Liestal since 1901 ». Accompanying publication to the special exhibition in the Poet and City Museum Liestal from November 9, 2007 to April 20, 2008. Liestal, 2007.
• Dorothea Huber, Isabelle Rucki (Hrsgg.): Architects lexicon of Switzerland. 19./20. Century . Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 .

Web links

• Rolf Georg Otto. In: arch INFORM .
• Literature by and about Rolf Georg Otto in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website of the Otto + Partner office
• Chronology of important buildings and projects

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Building awards of the Basel homeland security
2. ↑ Description on the school's website  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Photo on the website of the Monument Preservation of the Canton of Basel Stadt