Biography of Albert Speer junior

Albert Speer junior (born 29 July 1934 in Berlin; died 15 September 2017 in Frankfurt am Main) was a German architect and urban planner. He founded Albert Speer & Partner in Frankfurt and worked on large urban development, transport and master planning projects in Germany and internationally.

Name and origin

Speer was the son of Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's architect and later armaments minister of the Nazi regime. This background accompanied his public perception throughout his life. Speer junior nevertheless chose architecture and urban planning, the same professional field as his father and grandfather. Alongside the burden of the name, his own planning practice took shape in the postwar period: offices, competitions, master plans and international urban development.

Training and own office

After the war Speer studied architecture in Munich and first worked in Frankfurt. In 1964 he founded his own office, which later became AS+P Albert Speer + Partner. The office grew into an internationally active planning company. Speer was less interested in single spectacular buildings than in urban structure, transport, open spaces, uses and the organisation of large areas.

Urban planning

In Germany Speer was involved in planning for Frankfurt, Cologne and Hanover. For Expo 2000 in Hanover, his office worked on the master plan. International projects followed in China, the Middle East and other regions, including Anting New Town near Shanghai and planning connected with the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar. Such large projects made him an urban planner for growing metropolitan regions.

Working method and criticism

Speer's work aimed at order, infrastructure and readability in large urban landscapes. His designs were recognised for environmental and transport concepts, but also stood within the tensions of very large clients, international growth goals and political frameworks. This ambivalence belongs to his work: urban planning can improve living spaces, but can also spatially order power, capital and control.

Farewell

Albert Speer junior died in Frankfurt am Main on 15 September 2017 after complications following a fall. He was 83 years old. His name remains connected with large urban plans and with the difficult question of how an architect with a burdened family name develops a professional voice of his own.