File #: 21-3190    Version: 1 Name: Helmut Jahn, In Memoriam
Type: Consent Calendar Resolution Status: Approved
File created: 5/11/2021 In control: Board of Commissioners
On agenda: 5/13/2021 Final action: 5/13/2021
Title: PROPOSED RESOLUTION CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF HELMUT JAHN WHEREAS, it has come to the attention of the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Helmut Jahn made his transition to eternal life on May 8, 2021; and WHEREAS Helmut Jahn was the husband of Deborah Lampe and father of Evan; and WHEREAS, Helmut Jahn was born in Zirndorf, Bavaria in 1940 and emigrated to Chicago in 1966 to study engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and WHEREAS Helmut Jahn joined Charles Francis Murphy's architecture firm C.F. Murphy Associates in 1967, was appointed Executive Vice President in 1973 and become head of the firm in 1981, renaming it Murphy/Jahn, and then JAHN in 2012; and WHEREAS Helmut Jahn's early career saw him working on various large-scale public and civic buildings in Chicago, his adopted home city, and helped establish his reputation as a contemporary architecture talent; and WHEREAS In 1985, the Helmut Jahn designed the State of Illinois Center, renam...
Sponsors: JOHN P. DALEY, TONI PRECKWINKLE (President), FRANK J. AGUILAR, ALMA E. ANAYA, LUIS ARROYO JR, SCOTT R. BRITTON, DENNIS DEER, BRIDGET DEGNEN, BRIDGET GAINER, BRANDON JOHNSON, BILL LOWRY, DONNA MILLER, STANLEY MOORE, KEVIN B. MORRISON, SEAN M. MORRISON, PETER N. SILVESTRI, DEBORAH SIMS, LARRY SUFFREDIN
title
PROPOSED RESOLUTION

CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF HELMUT JAHN

WHEREAS, it has come to the attention of the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Helmut Jahn made his transition to eternal life on May 8, 2021; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn was the husband of Deborah Lampe and father of Evan; and

WHEREAS, Helmut Jahn was born in Zirndorf, Bavaria in 1940 and emigrated to Chicago in 1966 to study engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn joined Charles Francis Murphy's architecture firm C.F. Murphy Associates in 1967, was appointed Executive Vice President in 1973 and become head of the firm in 1981, renaming it Murphy/Jahn, and then JAHN in 2012; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn's early career saw him working on various large-scale public and civic buildings in Chicago, his adopted home city, and helped establish his reputation as a contemporary architecture talent; and

WHEREAS In 1985, the Helmut Jahn designed the State of Illinois Center, renamed the James R. Thompson Center, was completed. With its sloped glass facade and towering open atrium, the 17-story structure not only became one of downtown Chicago's most recognizable buildings but a bold architectural expression of open government; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn designed the inspiring Terminal 1 building at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, with its acclaimed pedestrian tunnel, which is illuminated in neon designs created by artist Michael Hayden; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn designed many award-winning projects including the Liberty Place skyscraper complex in Philadelphia, Sony Center in Berlin, Suvarnabhumi Airport terminal in Bangkok and the 55-story Messeturm in Frankfurt, which briefly reigned as the tallest building in Europe after being completed in 1990, and

WHEREAS in 1991, Helmut Jahn was named as one of the "Ten Most Influential Living American Architects" by the American Institute of Architects; and

WHEREAS Helmut Jahn held various teaching posts ...

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