The work of Gottfried Böhm (1920–2021) ranges from the simple to the complex, using many different kinds of materials, with results that sometimes appear humble, sometimes monumental. He has been described in the sixties as an expressionist, and more recently as post-Bauhaus, but almost always he stands alone in departing from the conventions of established architecture, seeking to go one step beyond.

Böhm himself prefers to be thought of in terms of creating "connections"—for example, the integration of the old with the new, the world of ideas with the physical world, the interaction between the architecture of a single building with the urban environment, taking into account the form, material, and color of a building in its setting.

Gottfried Böhm was born in Offenbach-am-Main on January 23, 1920, the son of Dominikus Böhm, one of Europe's most respected architects of Roman Catholic churches and ecclesiastical buildings. Since his paternal grandfather had been an architect as well, it is not surprising that Gottfried started on that path.

His academic career began in 1942, when he attended the Technische Hochschule in Munich. He received degree in 1946. For another year, he continued his education, studying sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. That training has been important for the clay models he develops during the design process of his buildings.

He worked in his father's office as an assistant architect from 1947to1950. During that time he collaborated with the Society for the Reconstruction of Cologne under the direction of Rudolph Schwarz. In 1948, he met and married Elisabeth Haggenmueller, who is also a licensed engineer and architect. They have four sons, three of whom have become architects.

Feeling the need for other points of view, in 1951, Böhm journeyed to New York where he worked in the architectural firm of Cajetan Baumann for six months. Several more months were spent on a study tour of the United States, during which time he had the opportunity to meet Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, two of the architects for whom he holds great admiration.

His study tour over, Böhm returned to work with his father in 1952. His father's influence plus the ideas and theories of Bauhaus, were apparent in his first independent projects. Nevertheless, his multiple skills enabled him to overcome this phase quickly. He did not discover a different style; what he discovered was a clear conviction of the importance of every single architectural assignment, no matter how small, and he learned that, along with the factors of time and place, man is the most important value to be taken into consideration."

German Architect Gottfried Böhm is the 1986 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate

Gottfried Böhm, a third generation architect from Cologne, Federal Republic of Germany, was announced today as the 1986 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the eighth recipient of the prestigious international award, and the fourth to be selected from outside the United States.

Böhm's work is primarily in Europe, but he has designed buildings in Formosa and Brazil as well. Such projects as the City Hall of Bensberg, the Church of the Pilgrimage at. Neviges, and the Zueblin corporate building in Stuttgart have brought international acclaim.

Jay A. Pritzker, president of The Hyatt Foundation, which established the prize in 1979 to reward a creative endeavor not honored by the Nobel Prizes, presented a $100,000 tax-free grant to Böhm today at The Museum of Modern Art. A formal award ceremony will be held at the Goldsmiths' Hall in London on May 7. At that time, Böhm will receive the symbol of the prize, a bronze sculpture by Henry Moore.

Pritzker described Böhm as "an excellent choice by our distinguished jury. Each of the Laureates has been honored for achievements demonstrating a combination of talent, vision, and commitment that consistently produces work to enhance the environment, and therefore humanity as well. Böhm's buildings excel by all of these criteria."

Noted author and journalist Brendan Gill, secretary to the Pritzker jury, announced Böhm as the 1986 Laureate to an impressive gathering of architects and architectural writers. He praised Böhm's work, saying, "As little known in the United States as he is well-known in Europe, for forty years Böhm has succeeded in interpreting and transforming the architectural riches of past centuries into contemporary structures, thrilling in themselves."

The jury making the selection consisted of J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., who served as chairman; Giovanni Agnelli, chairman of Fiat in Torino, Italy; Thomas J. Watson, chairman emeritus of IBM Corporation; and three architects, Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico City, Fumihiko Maki of Tokyo; and 1982 Pritzker Prize Laureate, Kevin Roche of Hamden, Connecticut.

In making the award to Böhm, the jury's citation read as follows: "Son, grandson, husband and father of architects, Gottfried Böhm has reason to recognize the nourishment that traditional ways and means, handed down from one generation to the next, provide in architecture, as in all the arts

Son, grandson, husband, and father of architects, Gottfried Böhm has reason to recognize the nourishment that traditional ways and means provide in architecture, as in all the arts. In the course of a career of over forty years, he has taken care to see that the elements in his work which suggest the past also bear witness to his ready acceptance, whether in the design of churches, town halls, public housing, or office buildings, of the latest and best in our contemporary technology. His highly evocative handiwork combines much that we have inherited from our ancestors with much that we have but newly acquired—an uncanny and exhilarating marriage, to which the Pritzker Architecture Prize is happy to pay honor.

Goldsmiths' Hall, London, England

Since the fourteenth century, the Goldsmiths' Company, originally founded to regulate the trade, has been responsible for testing the quality of gold, silver and, from 1975, platinum articles. Its headquarters, on the same site in London since 1339, is near St. Paul's Cathedral. The magnificent Goldsmiths’ Hall opened in 1835 and was designed by architect Philip Hardwick. Although there have been some changes to the decorative schemes and functions over the years, Goldsmiths’ Hall remains much as Hardwick envisioned it. The Hall narrowly escaped complete destruction during World War II, but has been faithfully restored on the exterior after the War, retaining much of its charm as an urban palazzo.

The Livery Hall, the largest room in Goldsmiths’ Hall, was the site of the 1986 Pritzker Architecture Prize award ceremony. This magnificently proportioned room is striking due to its Corinthian columns of scagliola and richly decorated moulded ceiling . There are four matching chandeliers of English glass, supplied by Perry and Co. in 1835, now electrified internally, each holding forty-eight candles. Participating in the Ceremony were: the Duke of Gloucester, Carter Brown, Chair of the Jury, Brendan Gill, Secretary to the Jury, Jay Pritzker, President of the Hyatt Foundation, and giving his acceptance speech, Gottfreid Böhm, the eighth Pritzker laureate.

Read Gottfried Böhm's Ceremony Acceptance Speech

Read Jay Pritzker's Ceremony Speech

Ceremony Highlights