Helmot Ernst Hermann Ziehe was a German architect who graduated from the Technical University of Berlin in the late 1960s. According to the Student Register, he is recorded as a student at the Architectural Association, London, in 1970-71, where he enrolled in the postgraduate Department of Development and Tropical Studies, pursuing a Diploma in Urban Development Planning. Following his graduation, Ziehe likely commenced his career in North Africa. In 1982, he worked for a Greek company as the Resident Engineer for a city with a population of 90,000 in Libya. His interest in building methodologies, materials and their impact on the living conditions within the built environment led him to establish the International Institute for Bau-Biologie & Ecology in London in 1984. Subsequently, in 1987, he relocated to Florida, United States, where he founded the International Institute for Bau-Biologie & Ecology in Clearwater. Ziehe passed away in January 2013 in Florida.

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Building Biology Institute. ‘Our Founder’. Building Biology Institute. Accessed 24 November 2024. https://buildingbiologyinstitute.org/about/our-founder/.
• Susannah Ziehe. Email correspondence to Edward Bottoms (AA Archives). July 18, 2024.