Olympia München '72

Cheerful, playful, lightthe architectural leitmotifs of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich spatially embodied the hope of a new era for the young German Republic. The vision of a cosmopolitan society found expression in a swinging roof construction over gently undulating landscape forms and fresh, clean colors. For the first time, this book examines the design and technical achievements behind the iconic Olympia architectureas told from the perspective of the congenial collaboration between its planners. Detailed insights into the creation process between visionary artistic aspirations, technical possibilities, motivation of those involved and the power of decision-makers how the potential of interdisciplinary thinking. Olympia München 72Architektur + Landschaft als gebaute Utopie is a unique historical testimony of the time, based on extensive interviews by the author with Günter Behnisch, Frei Otto, Hans-Jochen Vogel, Klaus Linkwitz, and Jörg Schlaich, among others. Including previously unpublished visual material.

From 2004 to 2016, architect Elisabeth Spieker was in charge of the Günter Behnisch & Partner collection as a research assistant at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technologys saai architecture archive and led the DFG research project "Olympia München 1972.