Overview

• His death on July 23 at age 89 was announced in early August by his ex-wife Inken Baller and confirmed by the dpa after a prolonged illness.
• Over his six-decade career, Baller’s firm designed roughly 200 structures in Berlin and Potsdam, including the Philosophical Institute at Freie Universität and the Fraenkelufer infill façades for the 1984–87 International Building Exhibition.
• He and Inken Baller founded their practice in 1966 and collaborated until 1989 on social housing projects like the 600-meter Wohnanlage Schlangenbader Straße in Wilmersdorf.
• Ballers’ hallmark organic style challenged conventional right angles with curved façades, skewed angles and filigree ornamentation.
• In 2023, he and Inken received the Große BDA-Preis and he served as a professor at the Hamburg art academy, cementing his influence on German architectural education.