Jahn was born January 4, 1940, in Zirndorf, near Nuremberg, Germany.[1] His father, Wilhelm Anton Jahn, was a schoolteacher in special education. His mother, Karolina Wirth, was a housewife.[2][3] Jahn grew up watching the reconstruction of the city, which had been largely destroyed by Allied bombing campaigns.[4]
Jahn joined Charles Francis Murphy's architecture firm, C. F. Murphy Associates, in 1967 and was appointed Executive Vice President and Director of Planning and Design of the firm in 1973.[citation needed] He took sole control in 1981, renaming the firm Murphy/Jahn (even though Murphy had retired).[citation needed] Murphy died in 1985.
Death
Jahn was killed on May 8, 2021, while riding his bicycle in Campton Hills, a suburb of Chicago.[6] The collision happened near his home and horse farm in St. Charles, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.[7][8][9]
Generally inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, yet opposed to the doctrinal application of modernism by his followers, in 1978, Jahn became the eighth member of the Chicago Seven. His architectural style shifted from the modernism of the Miesian tradition to a postmodernist one with high-tech stylizations.[10] Jahn established his reputation in 1985 with the State of Illinois Center in Chicago which prompted him to be dubbed "Flash Gordon".[11] In addition to the main seat in Chicago, the company has offices in Berlin and Shanghai.
On October 26, 2012, Helmut Jahn renamed Murphy/Jahn to simply JAHN.[citation needed]
Following is a partial list of completed projects:
2018 – ENR Safety Award of Merit: 1900 Metro Reston Plaza[60]
Jahn was interested in yachting, and in the late 1990s owned at least three yachts named Flash Gordon (one of his nicknames).[61] In 1995, Jahn's Flash Gordon 2 won the annual Chicago to Mackinac Race, the oldest freshwater yacht race in the world.[62] In 1998, Jahn invited his fellow Vietnam War veteran, George Henry, to race with him in the Waterbury Channel Open. In 1997, Flash Gordon 3 won the Admiral's Cup.[61][63] It was the Farr 40 design yacht called Flash Gordon 6 that he had the most success winning the 2012 Farr 40 World Championship[64] and they captured three straight North American Championship between 2015–2017.[65]
He married Deborah Ann Lampe, an interior designer, in December 1970. Their son Evan was born in 1978.[2]
Neumann, Dietrich. "Helmut Jahn." In Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 5, edited by R. Daniel Wadhwani. German Historical Institute. Last modified February 9, 2016.