(b Gladbeck, 30 Aug 1920). German architect, teacher and writer. After serving in the German army, he studied architecture (1946–8) at the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, under Richard Döcker and Rolf Gutbrod (b 1910), remaining there as a lecturer until 1951. In that year he formed a partnership with Heinrich Bartmann (Bartmann & Deilmann) in Münster, but it was his second partnership (1953–5) with Architektenteam, a group of architects in Münster including Max Clemens von Hausen (b 1919), Ortwin Rave (b 1921) and Werner Ruhnau, that brought him professional recognition. In 1954 the group won the competition for the new Stadttheater (1954–6), Münster, whose asymmetrical, informal planning and setting embody a deliberate move away from the formal architecture of the Third Reich. Built of glass and concrete, the front façade demonstrates the idea of exposing the theatre-goer to the street, with auditorium and stage both clearly expressed on the exterior elevations. Part of the old theatre wall was incorporated into the foyer of the new building as a memorial, a characteristic device of post-World War II German architecture, the most prominent example being Egon Eiermann’s Kaiser-WilhelmGedächtniskirche (1957–63), Berlin.

• Deilmann, Harald
  • Münster