born May 6, 1863 in Dortmund,
died March 31, 1947 in Heidelberg
Grandfather of Prof. Albert Speer. Studied in Berlin and Munich. Private firm in Mannheim from 1900-1923. His residential and factory buildings, which were generally of Classical and Art Nouveau character, and are today in some cases listed buildings, are to be found primarily in Mannheim.
born March 19, 1905 in Mannheim,
died September 1, 1981 in London
Father of Prof. Albert Speer. For detailed information about Albert Speer and his CV see: ArchINFORM
Prof. Albert Speer was Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Kaiserslautern for 25 years and was one of the most important German urban planners. Based in Frankfurt/Main, he was a major influence on the guiding principle of the “intelligent city”, and early on made a stance against the trend towards desolation of city centers. He landed his first major architecture contract in 1972 from DG Bank in Frankfurt/Main. Nowadays Speer’s name is linked, among other things, to major projects such as EXPO 2000 in Hanover, which are changing our cities landscapes on a long term basis. Founded in 1964, AS+P Albert Speer + Partner GmbH nowadays employs more than 200 architects, landscape architects, and urban and transport planners. Its current contracts include the strategic master plan for Alexandria in Egypt, the planning of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) Business Park in Riyadh, the master plan and innovation handbook for InnovationCity Ruhr, Modellstadt Bottrop, the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM) at Frankfurt Airport, and various other architecture, urban and transport planning projects.
Albert Speer (…) was born in 1934 as the son of Hitler’s chief architect and Minister of Armaments Albert Speer. Having trained as a carpenter he then studied Architecture in Munich. In 1964 he founded his urban and regional planning firm in Frankfurt/Main. With a payroll of almost 200 employees, AS+P Albert Speer + Partner GmbH is nowadays well known beyond Europe for urban and transport planning, residential district architecture, and major sporting events. Speer has won prizes and been awarded honorary doctorates, and his name is associated, for example, with the “Museumsufer” development in Frankfurt/Main, Expo 2000 in Hanover, and the Allianz Arena in Munich. He has lectured in regional and environmental planning. In 2006 he was awarded the Federal Order of Merit for the academic advancement of architecture and urban planning.
He (…) managed to liberate himself form the overpowering shadow of his father, the Minister of Armaments and architect of Adolf Hitler’ monumental structures. Urban planning is not about creating monuments, but sees cities as complex, living organisms, is his credo.
With his wish to design sustainable cities that are compatible with mankind and the environment, Albert Speer Junior continued the family architecture tradition, without having to follow in his father’s footsteps. “It has often been said that I consciously wanted to be distinct from my father, but that wasn’t the case. I knew that architecture was not my strength.” His father had never understood what sustainable urban planning is all about, he says.
Speer later discovered that his father had nonetheless been proud when, in Spandau Prison in Berlin he heard of the prizes his son had been awarded since winning his competition in 1964 in Ludwigshafen. Nonetheless, urban planning had never interested his father, and certainly why one had to bother with preparatory land use plans and deal with citizens’ objections, or make presentations to building authorities in order to be able to build cities worth living in. “That was not his world.“ But it was one, which today matters everywhere.
by Johnny Erling, excerpt from: Die Welt newspaper, November 3, 2013