Remembering Influential Chicago Architect Helmut Jahn

Image courtesy of JAHN

World-famous architect, and former Illinois Institute of Technology architecture student, Helmut Jahn, passed away on May 8, 2021 at the age of 81.

Jahn immigrated to Chicago from Germany in 1966 to study at Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture, where he studied under notable faculty and was influenced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the Modernist architecture curriculum.

In 1967, he left Illinois Tech to work with Gene Summers (M.ARCH. ’51) and together they took lead positions with C. F. Murphy Associates to redesign McCormick Place. Jahn took on a leadership role when Summers left the firm which was then renamed Murphy/Jahn (known today as JAHN).

Jahn made lasting contributions to the Chicago skyline with works such as the Accenture Tower, 55 West Monroe, and iconic structures like the Thompson Center and United Airlines Terminal 1 (with its bold underground tunnel) at O’Hare International Airport. He continued to work on projects both in Chicago and internationally, spending much of his time promoting effective preservation and reuse of his buildings rather than tearing them down.

When Gene Summers returned to Illinois Tech as dean at the College of Architecture in 1989, Jahn served as a studio professor until the mid-1990s. Jahn designed the Jeanne and John Rowe Village (2003) on Illinois Tech's Mies Campus, which is situated among works from Mies van der Rohe, Rem Koolhaas, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 2002, he joined the Mies van der Rohe Society founding Board of Directors and remained active as an advisor and Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP) supporter.

Jahn was awarded an honorary degree from Illinois Tech in 2006 and received the distinguished Collens Merit Award in 2020, which is given to alumni who demonstrate outstanding commitment to the future of Illinois Tech.

“Helmut Jahn was one of those rare architects who seamlessly combined high design, high technology, and high-wire showmanship to create buildings—and a persona that reminded people how architecture (and architects) can continuously inspire,” says Reed Kroloff, dean of Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture.