Born in Bocholt, Petzinka studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen from 1976 and graduated in 1982 with the academic degree of Diplom-Ingenieur.

[2] After his first professional years 1982–1983 as a freelance architect in the office of O. M. Ungers in Cologne, he worked as an assistant to Wolfgang Döring [de] at the RWTH Aachen from 1983 to 1985.

At the same time, the Jahrhunderthalle marks the opening of a new field of work in Petzinka's oeuvre with the conversion of historic buildings to a new use.

[3] Petzinka's best-known architectural projects include the Stadttor, a skysrcaper in Düsseldorf that won the MIPIM award, the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus [de] built in Berlin as the federal headquarter of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), the Representation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia to the Federal Government in Berlin, and the conversion of the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum into a venue for the Ruhrtriennale festival.

In Gelsenkirchen, he was involved in the construction of the Hercules of Gelsenkirchen [de],[10] the Nordstern Video Art Centre Goetz Collection,[11] the planning of the urban development project Stadtquartier am Schloß Horst,[12] and the revitalization of both the workshop building of the Zeche Nordstern[13] and of the Rote Halle in Düsseldorf.