The life and works of Frei Otto told in his own words and by those he inspired. An in-depth look at the rise of lightweight architecture, form finding, and its continued relevance for the future of architecture.

Frei Otto: Spanning the Future is a documentary about the incredible life and work of Frei Otto. As an architect and engineer he laid the foundation for contemporary lightweight architecture, and his ideas are still awe inspiring decades after he revealed them. This fact was cemented when he was named the 2015 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In one of the final interviews given before his passing, Frei Otto tells how coming of age in the years surrounding WWII influenced his work in tensile architecture. Along with Buckminster "Bucky" Fuller, Walter Gropius, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Richard Neutra, Frei Otto was a visionary. His approach to form finding to solve structural as well as social problems is the foundation for modern architecture. Frei Otto: Spanning the Future takes architecture fans on a journey through a history of architecture that inspires the world of tomorrow. His fundamental knowledge of architecture's relationship to natural forces and a holistic view of the architect's role in the built environment is the foundation of today's tectonic shift in architecture. And as computer technology continues to advance, his methods for complex curvatures are becoming realized in our built environment, as are his broader philosophical concepts about solving some of the world's most pressing issues.