Helmut Jahn has earned a reputation on the cutting edge of progressive architecture. His buildings have had a “staggering” influence on world architecture according to John Zukowsky, Curator of Architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago. Murphy/Jahn’s buildings have received numerous design awards and have been represented in architectural exhibitions around the world.

Born in Germany, Jahn graduated from the Technische Hochschule in Munich. He came to the United States for graduate studies in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. After attending IIT, he went to work at C. F. Murphy Associates where he worked as Project Architect under Gene Summers, designing the new McCormick Place. In 1976, his first major high-rise building in Chicago, Xerox Centre, won great critical acclaim.

Today, as President and Chief Executive Officer of Murphy/Jahn, he has been called Chicago’s premiere architect who has dramatically changed the face of Chicago. His growing national and international reputation has led to commissions across the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. He is committed to design excellence and the improvement of the urban environment. His projects have been recognized globally for design innovation, vitality and integrity. From the numerous publications on his work, one understands the excitement his work has generated in the public eye as well as professional journals and press.

Jahn’s professional activities are highlighted by numerous lectures and juries for various universities, professional societies and civic and commercial groups. He is a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in which his work has received seven American Institute of Architects National Honor Awards, and a total of (44) Distinguished Building Awards from the local chapters of the American Institute of Architects. Included with other awards are, an Owens-Corning Fiberglass Energy Conservation Award, the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Reliance Development Group, Inc. and R. S. Reynolds Memorial for Distinguished Architecture.

Jahn’s work has been included in exhibits worldwide since 1980, including the Venice Biennale, Italy, Verona, Italy, Tokyo, Paris and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany. He has taught at the University of Illinois Chicago Campus, was the Elliot Noyes Professor of Architectural Design at Harvard University and the Davenport Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at Yale University, and Thesis Professor at Illinois Institute of Technology.

His design is both rational and intuitive; it attempts to give each building its own philosophical and intellectual base and establishes an opportunity to exploit its particular elements to achieve a visual and communicative statement. The rational part deals with the realities of a problem. The intuitive aspect deals with the theoretical, intellectual aspects -- a subconscious ability to sense the intrinsic structure of a problem and establish priorities for the elements of design that deal with space, form, light, color and materials and the way architecture communicates through symbol and meaning of architectural language.

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