Behnisch was born the second of three children, in Lockwitz near Dresden.[1] He attended a number of schools, due to the fact his Social Democrat father was arrested, sacked and redeployed to Chemnitz by the new Nazi government.[1]
In 1939, Behnisch volunteered to join the navy (Kriegsmarine), aged 17, which was a less onerous alternative to compulsory labour service, or army conscription.[1] He eventually became a U-boat officer and served aboard U-952. In October 1944, he became one of the youngest U-boat commanders, when he commissioned U-2337.[2] At the end of the Second World War he surrendered his submarine to the British and became a prisoner of war in Featherstone Castle in Northumberland.[1]
He established his own architecture practice in Stuttgart in 1952, [citation needed] 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 in Munich.[5] The area in known as Olympiapark (Olympic Park) and it includes the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium).[6] The stadium's tensile structure was developed in cooperation with architect and engineer Frei Otto. One of Behnisch's most notable buildings was the new parliament in the West German capital, Bonn. Although he won the architectural design competition in 1973, the construction only began in 1987, and was completed in 1992.[3]
His son Stefan Behnisch established a separate firm, Behnisch Architekten in 1989.
Busch, Rainer; Röll, Hans-Joachim (1999). German U-boat Commanders of World War II: A Biographical Dictionary. Translated by Brooks, Geoffrey. London, Annapolis, Md: Greenhill Books, Naval Institute Press. ISBN1-55750-186-6.
