Stefan Behling

Stefan Behling is a head of studio and a member of the Design Board and Partnership Board at Foster + Partners. He has responsibility for an international portfolio of projects, varying in scale from strategic masterplans to a wide range of educational, commercial, residential and cultural buildings. He has a diploma in Architecture from the University of Aachen (RWTH) and joined the practice in 1987.

He is a passionate advocate of sustainable design. He leads the research and the use of new materials and methods in construction, and established the Material Research Centre (MRC). He is also responsible for the Specialist Modelling Group (SMG) at the practice, a multi-disciplinary, project-driven research team consisting of architects, engineers, mathematicians, building physicists and environmental scientists who are experts in all aspects of environmental analysis, computational design and digital fabrication.

He has worked on a number of projects that have pioneered new techniques for energy efficiency and resource management, including his current projects the 12,000 capacity Apple Park, Apple’s global headquarters in Cupertino and many of the new Apple flagship stores around the world since 2012. He is also responsible for Oceanwide Center, a mixed-use development in San Francisco and Kuwait International Airport, one of the largest and most ambitious concrete structures in the world. His recently completed projects include the Maggie’s Centre in Manchester, a place of refuge where people affected by cancer can find emotional and practical support, and the UK’s most sustainable office building, Bloomberg’s new European Headquarters in London.

Some of his earlier projects include the Business Promotion Centre in Duisburg, Reichstag, New German Parliament in Berlin, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, City Hall in London, Lenbachhaus in Munich, Free University of Berlin and the carbon-neutral settlement, Masdar City in Abu Dhabi.

From 1995 to 2015 he held the Chair of Professor of Building Construction, Technology and Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, teaching integrated design and new construction technology. He has led numerous research projects and has lectured and published widely. His books include Sol Power: The Evolution of Solar Architecture and Sustainable Design and Glass with his wife, Sophia Behling.