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Dozens of skyscrapers and airport terminals around the world bear his signature: Architect Helmut Jahn 2019 (archive photo)
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
Helmut Jahn, famous architect of structures such as the Sony Center in Berlin and the Messeturm in Frankfurt, is dead. He died on Saturday in a bicycle accident in Campton Hills, a suburb to the west of Chicago in the US state of Illinois.
The 81-year-old's bike was struck by two vehicles on a village street in Campton Hills.
According to the police, he ignored a stop sign at an intersection.
He therefore died at the scene of the accident.
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The Sony Center in Berlin is one of Jahn's most famous works
Photo: imago stock & people / imago images / Schöning
The German-American worked on numerous major projects around the world, including in the USA at McCormick Place in Chicago and the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the headquarters of the FBI.
He became famous with bold skyscrapers and office towers, inspired by Bauhaus legend Mies van der Rohe.
Jahn also designed several airport terminals worldwide and most recently worked in the emirate of Qatar.
Also conceived controversial projects
One of his more controversial works was the James R. Thompson Building, which opened in 1985, and is a glass-clad office building for the Illinois government.
According to the government, the 17-story building cannot be operated efficiently, devours huge sums of money and would have to be renovated for hundreds of millions of dollars.
mjm / dpa