Günter Behnisch & VS

Portrait of the architect Günter Behnisch

Günter Behnisch Can you build freedom?

In 2022, the architect Günter Behnisch would have been 100 years old. Hard to believe! Today many of his works seem as fresh as ever. This is true of our VS headquarters and the 900 Series furniture system, both designed by Behnisch. Join us on an anniversary stroll through his diverse work!

Olympic stadium in Munich

On the one hand, there is the 1972 Olympic site, which became the landmark of a cosmopolitan Munich, indeed of Germany. Even today, the softly modelled landscape with the stadiums and Frei Otto's sweeping tent-roof architecture is a place of encounter. A serene vision, without pathos and power symbolism. Have you ever been there?

"The architectural response to the demand for a green, youthful, cheerful Olympics, for example, is called 'Olympic landscape' and not 'double-ring stadium in reinforced concrete'."
Günter Behnisch

Long famous, Günter Behnisch's office received another commission that touched the heart of the Federal Republic: the design of the government quarter in Bonn. To this day, the Plenary Chamber embodies the political vision of the Federal Republic of Germany and captures "freedom in glass and airy forms".

Günter Behnisch also built a house for us, the staff of VS:

Our administration and showroom building in Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, inaugurated on the occasion of VS's 100th anniversary. Since 1998, this light-flooded building has been a daily reminder of our values. Values that we share with Günter Behnisch: social and aesthetic standards, quality, openness, a vision of freedom. Can buildings and furniture embody all this? We think: yes! What do you think?

A table makes a school

Let's get back to Günter Behnisch. What a life's work: in five decades he has realised some 150 buildings, including around 70 educational establishments. His schools are open, light and transparent, not thick-walled bastions of civic education, but airy laboratories of democracy for curious young people.

"You can whistle and sing even when you are doing hard work. In fact, I think the important thing is to whistle and sing while doing hard work."
Günter Behnisch

The 901 series goes political

The next step on our side was taken by Stefan Behnisch, Günter's son and founder of Behnisch Architekten in Stuttgart. He took another look at Series 900 and developed it into Series 901.

The result is a versatile office furniture system that we are still proud of today. And, more importantly, the joy of our customers. The reason: the system fits harmoniously into a wide variety of spaces and uses. This makes it a companion for many years. A companion that can adapt to change and that will delight you every day with its clear, elegant appearance.

The office furniture system received its award in 2001: all the workstations in the administration of the new German Bundestag in Berlin were fitted with Series 901. Do people there work differently and better now? We hope so.

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Stefan Behnisch

Aesthetic, functional, yet uncompromisingly sustainable: the name of architect Stefan Behnisch is a byword for architecture that conserves resources and makes people feel comfortable. What is less well-known is the fact that he has also created furniture systems that are so timelessly appealing and flexible that they last for decades - whether in the German Bundestag or on the other side of the Atlantic.