Günter Behnisch (12 June 1922 – 12 July 2010) was a German

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, born in Lockwitz, near

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he became one of Germany's youngest submarine commanders. Subsequently, Behnisch became one of the most prominent architects representing

deconstructivism Deconstructivism is a postmodern architecture, postmodern architectural movement which appeared in the 1980s. It gives the impression of the fragmentation of the constructed building, commonly characterised by an absence of obvious harmony, ...

. His prominent projects included the

Olympic Park An Olympic Park is a sports campus for hosting the Olympic Games. Typically it contains the Olympic Stadium and the International Broadcast Centre. It may also contain the Olympic Village or some of the other sports venues, such as the aquatics ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and the new

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Early life

Behnisch was born the second of three children, in Lockwitz near Dresden.David Childs
''Günter Behnisch: The architect behind Munich's groundbreaking Olympic Stadium''
in

The Independent (London) ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format in 2003. The last p ...

, 7 August 2010, retrieved 1 March 2012 He attended a number of schools, due to the fact his

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

father was arrested, sacked and redeployed to

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

by the new

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

government. In 1939, Behnisch volunteered to join the navy (''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

''), aged 17, which was a less onerous alternative to compulsory labour service, or army conscription. He eventually became a

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

officer and served aboard . In October 1944, he became one of the youngest U-boat commanders, when he commissioned . At the end of the

he surrendered his submarine to the British and became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

Featherstone Castle Featherstone Castle, a Grade I listed building, is a large Gothic style country mansion situated on the bank of the River South Tyne about southwest of the town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England. Medieval origins In the 11th century t ...

in Northumberland. Behnisch initially trained as a bricklayer then, in 1947 enrolled to study architecture at the Technical University in Stuttgart.Thorsten Dörting
''Obituary of the Architect Günter Behnisch''
in

Spiegel online international ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...

, 13 July 2010, retrieved 9 August 2010 From 1967 to 1987 he was a professor for architectural/building design and industrial building technology at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.

Architectural career

He established his own architecture practice in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

in 1952, which in 1966 became Behnisch & Partner. In 1967, the architecture firm of Günther Behnisch was selected to developed a comprehensive master plan for the sports and recreation area of the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

in Munich. The area in known as

Olympiapark The Olympiapark (English: Olympic Park) in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Located in the Oberwiesenfeld neighborhood of Munich, the Park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, socia ...

(Olympic Park) and it includes the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium). The stadium's

tensile structure Tension is the pulling or stretching force transmitted axially along an object such as a string, rope, chain, rod, truss member, or other object, so as to stretch or pull apart the object. In terms of force, it is the opposite of ''compression ...

was developed in cooperation with architect and engineer

Frei Otto Frei Paul Otto (; 31 May 1925 – 9 March 2015) was a German architect and structural engineer noted for his use of lightweight structures, in particular tensile and membrane structures, including the roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich for t ...

. One of Behnisch's most notable buildings was the new parliament in the West German capital,

. Although he won the architectural design competition in 1973, the construction only began in 1987, and was completed in 1992. His son Stefan Behnisch established a separate firm,

Behnisch Architekten Behnisch Architekten is an architecture, architectural practice based in Stuttgart, Germany, with branches in Munich, Germany; Boston, Massachusetts and Los Angeles, California. The office was founded in 1989 by Stefan Behnisch, son of the wel ...

in 1989.

Main works (selection)

* 1967–72:

, Germany * 1984–87: Central library of the

Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt The Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) is a Catholic research university in Eichstätt and Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. It is the only Catholic university in Germany. Compared to other German universities it is a rather small ...

Eichstätt Eichstätt () is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district of Eichstätt. It is located on the Altmühl river and has a population of around 13,000. Eichstätt is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Dioce ...

, Germany * 1984–90:

Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt The Museum für Kommunikation (MfK) is a museum of the history of communication in Frankfurt, Germany. It opened on 31 January 1958 under the name ''Bundespostmuseum'' (National Postal Museum) and is on Frankfurt's Museumsufer (Museum Riverbank). ...

, Germany * 1985–87: HYSOLAR-Building der

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

, Germany * 1987–92: Plenary Complex of the German Parliament (

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

) in

, Germany * 1993–2005: Academy of Arts Building in central Berlin, a six-story glass expansion of the reconstructed

Hotel Adlon The Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin is a luxury hotel in Berlin, Germany. It is on Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in the central Mitte district, at the corner with Pariser Platz, directly opposite the Brandenburg Gate. The original Hotel Adlon ...

* 1997: State Clearing Bank – Landesgirokasse in Stuttgart, Germany * 1998: Control tower at

Nuremberg Airport Nuremberg Airport ( ) is an international airport of the Franconian metropolitan area of Nuremberg and the second-busiest airport in Bavaria after Munich Airport. The year 2018, with 4.5 million, was the year with the highest passenger volume t ...

, Germany * 1998–2002: North German State Clearing Bank in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany * 1999: Museum der Phantasie,

Bernried am Starnberger See Bernried am Starnberger See is a municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It lies on the shore of Starnberger See Lake Starnberg, or ''Starnberger See'' ) — called Lake Würm or ''Würmsee'' until 1962 — is German ...

, Germany * 2003:

Genzyme Genzyme (also known as Genzyme Transgenics Corp or GTC Biotherapeutics) was an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. From its acquisition in 2011 to 2022 Genzyme operated as a fully owned subsidiary of Sanofi. In 2010, ...

Center in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, USA * 2005: Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada

References

Bibliography

External links

Official site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Behnisch, Gunter 1922 births 2010 deaths 20th-century German architects Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Architecture educators U-boat commanders (Kriegsmarine) Architects from Munich Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United Kingdom