Born in Nuremberg in 1940, Jahn moved across the Atlantic to Chicago as a young man, where in the 1960s he studied under one of the Bauhaus school's leading architects, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
Chicago then became his hometown, where he designed a number of famous and controversial buildings, including a terminal at O'Hare Airport.
During his more than 50-year career, he was also behind buildings such as the FBI's headquarters in Washington DC, airports in Bangkok, Doha and Munich and the Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.
In addition to architecture, Jahn devoted a lot of time to sailing, and in 2012, together with his son, became world champion in Farr 40 racing.