An International German Architectural Firm: gmp

If you have ever visited Germany, or you live in Germany, it’s likely that you have experienced Meinhard von Gerkan’s architectural design work, but his projects can be seen all around the world. His Hamburg-based architectural firm has also designed projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Von Gerkan is little known in North America, partly because his firm has no projects there. But he really isn’t that well known in Germany either, despite having designed many projects from Hamburg to Munich, and many points in between.

Berlin’s landmark central railway station, the former Lehrter Bahnhof, was designed by Meinhard von Gerkan’s gmp architectural firm. It opened to local and long-distance rail travelers in May 2006 and is the largest multi-level train station in Germany. PHOTO: Hyde Flippo

Meinhard von Gerkan was born in Riga, Latvia on 3 January 1935 to a Baltic German family, long before the occupation of Latvia and Estonia by the Soviet Union in June 1940. His father died on the Eastern Front in 1942 while serving as a German soldier. His mother died shortly after fleeing from Poznan, in Nazi occupied Poland. Young Meinhard grew up as a foster child in Hamburg, from 1949 on with the family of a parish priest. He attended a Waldorf school, later earning his Abitur (high school diploma) at an evening secondary school (Abendgymnasium) in 1955.

Von Gerkan first studied law and physics in Hamburg, before switching to architectural studies in Berlin. In 1964 he graduated from the Technical University in Braunschweig with a degree in architecture. The following year he co-founded, with Volkwin Marg, the architectural firm that is still known today as von Gerkan, Marg und Partner (gmp) with head offices in Hamburg. Within just a few years of establishing his architectural office, von Gerkan and his partner won eight architectural competitions, including the design of West Berlin’s first postwar civilian airport, Berlin-Tegel (TXL), which opened in 1975. As fate would have it, Gerkan’s first airport project (Tegel) closed at the end of October 2020 to make way for his latest airport design, Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER).

Today, the gmp firm (von Gerkan, Marg and Partners) is one of Germany’s largest architectural offices, with about 500 employees from 50 countries in eight offices. Its design projects – from residences to entire cities – are spread around the globe. In Berlin alone, gmp has left its design mark on the following buildings and projects (sample):

• Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER)
• Tegel Airport (TXL, 1975)
• Berlin Central Railway Station (Berlin Hauptbahnhof)
• Berlin Olympic Stadium Remodel (2004)
• State Ballet School, Berlin
• Staatsbibliothek Berlin
• Dresdner Bank, Pariser Platz (next to the Brandenburg Gate)
• Berlin-Spandau Railway Station
• Office and Commercial Building, Friedrichstrasse 108

This Meinhard von Gerkan biography (Vielfalt in der Einheit: Die autorisierte Biografie) by Jürgen Tietz, 2015) is the most current available. AMAZON Germany: Buy this book from Amazon.de (in German, hardcover) – AMAZON USA: Buy this book from Amazon.com (in German, hardcover)

The BER (Willy Brandt) airport project became very controversial, in the end taking 12 years from the time construction began in 2008 until it opened in 2020. The project became a sad icon of German inefficiency, suffering delay after delay, as well as numerous management changes, while running way over budget. In 2012, BER’s scheduled but missed opening date, gmp was dismissed from the project, only to be reinstated in 2018. Observers say the BER fiasco arose from too much political influence (from Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit, among others) and far too little central control. Some claim there were also design issues that contributed to the problems. In 2013, Meinhard von Gerkan authored a book, Black Box BER (in German), in which he explains his point of view and complains about the way most airports today have become shopping malls. Most of gmp’s other design projects have fared much better, many of them having won prestigious design awards.

Personal Life
Meinhard von Gerkan has six children from two marriages, Florence and fashion model Manon von Gerkan from his first marriage, as well as four offspring from his second wife, Sabine. He is related to the late Baltic German classical archaeologist and construction researcher Armin von Gerkan (1885-1969), who was a noted expert in ancient Greek archaeology and city planning.

Von Gerkan held a professorship at the Technical University of Braunschweig, where he headed the Institute for Construction Design from 1974 to 2002. Since 2000 his architectural firm has been strongly involved in design projects and urban planning in China and Vietnam, including the planned community of Lingang New City which became reality in 2003. In China von Gerkan’s firm has also designed everything from train stations (Hangzhou) to opera houses (Qingdao; see photo below).

Projects Worldwide

Below is a chronological list of some of gmp’s notable architectural projects around the world, with the year of completion in parentheses. This list is only a sample of the total.

• Stuttgart Airport – Terminal 1, Terminal 3 (1993, 2004)
• New Trade Fair, Leipzig (1996)
• Hörn Bridge, Kiel (1997)
• Hanseatic Trade Center (Phase IV) office complex, Kehrwiederspitze, Hamburg (1999)
• Swissôtel Berlin (2001)
• Hamburg-Speicherstadt – Block X (2002)
• Ancona Airport, Italy (2004)
• Commerzbank Arena, Frankfurt (2005)
• Vietnam National Convention Center, Hanoi (2006)
• Haidian Christian Church, Beijing, China (2007)
• Hamburg Airport (2008)
• Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban, South Africa (2009)
• Villa at Elbchaussee, Hamburg (2009)
• Hanoi Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam (2010)
• Qingdao Grand Theatre (opera hall), Qingdao, China (2010)
• Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Chennai, India (2010)
• New Deutsche Bank Towers, Frankfurt (2011)
• Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (2012)
• National Stadium (Stadion Narodowy), Warsaw, Poland (2012)
• Estádio Nacional de Brasília, Brazil (2013)
• Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2013)
• Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil (2013)
• National Assembly Building of Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam (2014)
• Dongguan Basketball Center, Dongguan, China (2014)
• Hangzhou Southern Railway Station, China (2018)
• Elbbrücken Train Station, Hamburg (2019)
• National Stadium of Luxembourg, Luxembourg City (2020)

The Qingdao Grand Theatre is just one of several major projects by gmp in China. The opera hall section seats 1,600; the music hall seats 1,200 people. PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons

Books About Meinhard von Gerkan and gmp Projects

The following books can be purchased from our affiliate partners Amazon.com (USA) and Amazon.de (Germany). We earn a modest commission on each sale at no extra cost to you.

• Meinhard von Gerkan – Vielfalt in der Einheit: Die autorisierte Biografie by Jürgen Tietz, 2015. This authorized biography of von Gerkan is written in German. Hardcover from Amazon.com. If you are located in Germany, you can get the same book from Amazon.de.
  Amazon: “Die Biografie Meinhard von Gerkans beschreibt eine beeindruckende deutsche Nachkriegskarriere, die vom Flüchtlingswaisen bis zum internationalen Stararchitekten geführt hat. Zusammen mit seinem Partner Volkwin Marg, mit dem er 1965 in Hamburg das Architekturbüro gmp gründete, zählt Meinhard von Gerkan zu den international gefragtesten und erfolgreichsten deutsche Architekt der Gegenwart. Sein umfangreiches architektonisches Schaffen reicht von Flughäfen und Bahnhöfen über Gewerbe- und Bürobauten, Kongresszentren und Opernhäuser bis zu Museen, Kirchen und Villen. Dieser Band ist eine Entdeckungsreise durch ein reiches, von Menschen, Orten und Bauten geprägtes Architektenleben, dessen Protagonist sich zeitlebens immer wieder neuen Herausforderungen erfolgreich gestellt hat und wohl auch deshalb zu den großen Architekten unserer Zeit zählt.”
• TXL. Berlin Tegel Airport (Hardcover Feb. 15, 2021, in English and German) by Jürgen Tietz (Editor, Contributor), Meinhard Von Gerkan, Volkwin Marg
  Amazon: “This book celebrates TXL’s whole story and glory. Numerous historical and contemporary photos, together with plans and drawings from gmp’s archive show off Tegel’s vibrant color scheme, overall design, and structural details down to the check-in counters with their rounded edges. Meinhard von Gerkan and Volkwin Marg provide a detailed account of this early commission, and the book includes an essay by Jürgen Tietz on the specific qualities of this unique air terminal and its historical significance.”

See more books below…

• Black Box BER: Vom Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg und anderen Großbaustellen. Wie Deutschland seine Zukunft verbaut by Meinhard von Gerkan (Kindle, audio, paper; in German, 2013)
  Description: Writing after the missed opening deadline for BER and the dismissal of gmp in 2012, von Gerkan airs his views on the fiasco and on airport design in general. Book subtitle: “How Germany is botching its future.” NOTE: This book is in German.
  Amazon: “Der Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg Willy Brandt (IATA-Code BER) gilt als Deutschlands peinlichste Baustelle. Öffentlich gelästert wird über Baumängel, Planungsfehler und Entscheidungschaos. Im Mai 2012 zeigte der Bauherr dem Architektenbüro von Gerkan, Marg und Partner (gmp) die Rote Karte, weil er in den Architekten die Schuldigen am geplatzten Termin der Flughafen-Eröffnungsfeier ausgemacht hatte. Er feuerte sie und reichte Klage ein.”
• GMP: Qingdao Grand Theater in China by Meinhard von Gerkan, Stephan Schuetz (hardcover, 2014)
  Amazon: “This publication examines the significance of China’s Grand Theater in Qingdao, situated at the foot of the Laoshan Mountains, within the historical context of China’s opera and concert houses. Includes images by architectural photographer Christian Galh.”
• More Books about Meinhard von Gerkan and gmp from Amazon.com

Related Pages and Web Links
AT THE GERMAN WAY

• Featured Biographies – More detailed bios of notable people from the German-speaking world
• Berlin and Potsdam – Our GW City Guide to the German capital city
• Mini Bios A-Z – Brief biographies of people from the German-speaking world
• Notable Women from Austria, Germany, Switzerland
• Famous Graves in Germany – Where are they buried?

ON THE WEB

• Gerkan, Marg and Partners – The gmp.de website in English

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