Gerhard earned degrees in architecture, design, and engineering at the University Fredericiana at Karlsruhe in Germany and at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA.

Over the past 40 years, Gerhard has been involved in the design of large-scale architectural developments worldwide while working with international practices in Chicago, New York, London, Frankfurt, and Hong Kong. These projects were skyscrapers, mixed-use developments, office towers, hotels, residential and retail facilities in urban centers. Furthermore, Gerhard was involved in the design and execution of airport terminals in Chicago, Bangkok, Kuwait, London, Perth and New Delhi.

Currently, Gerhard is practicing architecture and design in his studio in Karlsruhe, Germany. Besides working on the concept design for projects mostly in the Far East, he focuses on the Fine Arts which is informed by architecture.Gerhard understands architecture as an abstraction and discipline by which to see the world. He feels that architecture is usually understood as merely physical and geometric, though its nature is much broader, encompassing ideas and space, even the fabric of life itself. It is about the assembly of various elements into another entity, which is the rationale that orchestrates the world.