Günter Behnisch (12 June 1922 – 12 July 2010) was a German architect. He was born in Lockwitz. During World War II, he was one of Germany's youngest submarine commanders. After World War II, he became one of the most important architects indeconstructivism. His most important works were the Olympic Park in Munich and the new West German parliament in Bonn.

In 1922, Behnisch was born the middle child of three children in Lockwitz, near Dresden.^[1] He went to many schools, because his Social Democrat father was arrested, fired, and moved to Chemnitz by the new Nazi government.^[1]

In 1939 at age 17, Behnisch volunteered to join the navy (Kriegsmarine). This was a less difficult alternative than being conscripted.^[1] He eventually became a U-boat officer and served on U-952. In October 1944, he became one of the youngest U-boat commanders. He commissioned U-2337.^[2] After World War II, he surrendered his submarine to the British. He became a prisoner of war in Featherstone Castle in Northumberland.^[1]

Behnisch trained to become a bricklayer.^[1] In 1947, however he studied architecture at the Technical University in Stuttgart.^[3] From 1967 to 1987 he was a professor at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.^[4]

• 1967–72: Olympic Park in Munich, Germany^[5]
• 1984–87: Central library of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany
• 1984–90: Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt, Germany
• 1985–87: HYSOLAR-Building der University of Stuttgart, Germany
• 1987–92: Plenary Complex of the German Parliament (Bundestag) in Bonn, Germany^[6]
• 1993–2005: Academy of Arts Building in central Berlin, a six-story glass expansion of the reconstructed Hotel Adlon^[7][8]
• 1997: State Clearing Bank – Landesgirokasse in Stuttgart, Germany^[9]
• 1998: Control tower at Nuremberg Airport, Germany^[10]
• 1998–2002: North German State Clearing Bank in Hanover, Germany^[11]
• 1999: Museum der Phantasie, Bernried am Starnberger See, Germany
• 2003: Genzyme Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA^[12]
• 2005: Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research in Toronto, Canada^[13]

• 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. ISBN 1-55750-186-6.

• Official site