Ludwig Leo

1948-53 - studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin
1953 - worked for O.M. Ungers in Cologne
1953-55 - collaborated in the office of Wassili and Hans Luckhardt
from 1956 - operates his own architectural office in Berlin
1963-67 - was an assistant to O.M. Ungers at the Technical University of Berlin
1969 - received the Kunstpreis Berlin award
1973-93 - member of the West Berlin Academy of Arts, architecture section
from 1975 - full professor of building design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin (1982 emeritus professor)
from 1993 - member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, architecture section, member of RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects)

Ludwig Leo was a significant German architect and educator. He belongs to the first generation of post-war graduates. Before that, he was called to the Eastern Front at the age of twenty, where he lost a leg. Immediately after the war, he began studying civil engineering in Hamburg. He later moved to Berlin, where he studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1948 to 1953. His teachers included Georg Neidenberger and Paul Baumgarten. In 1953, Leo worked for Oswald Mathias Ungers in Cologne. Together with Stefan Wewerka, he worked on the Institute for Achieving Higher Education in Oberhausen. From 1953 to 1955, he worked in the Berlin office of Wassili and Hans Luckhardt, where he primarily worked on mechanical functional models of the patented convertible furniture by Hans Luckhardt. He then worked in the Berlin office of Paul Baumgarten. From 1963 to 1967, he was a part-time assistant to Professor Oswald Mathias Ungers at the Technical University of Berlin. In 1975, he began teaching building design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. In 1976, he was appointed professor at this school, where he taught until his retirement in 1982.
Ludwig Leo's personality is not well known to the general public, which is largely due to his personal modesty and avoidance of media attention. A few of his buildings are not connected by any characteristic formal handwriting but rather arise from a methodically developed handwriting of different linguistic forms. Among the initiated, he is regarded as a “radical functionalist” because he initially subjects each task to the most precise analysis. His architecture bears the signs of contemporary socially oriented goals. Famous architects like Peter Cook, Norman Foster, and Ernst Gisel have expressed their appreciation for Ludwig Leo, although Leo's work is often perceived solely with a focus on form, thus overlooking the ideological background. His significance can be measured by the fact that during his lifetime, three of his buildings were placed under heritage protection, although his list of works is very short. Among his students at the Academy of Fine Arts are Max Dudler and Christoph Langhof, among others.