Stefan Behling received his Diploma from the University of Aachen, Germany and joined Foster + Partners in 1987. Initially, he worked on masterplans for Kings Cross Station, London, and later became a director of the practice as well as managing director of Foster + Partners’ German offices in 1996. A specialist in ecology, sustainability and energy conservation, he has worked on a number of projects that have pioneered new techniques for energy management, including the Business Promotion Centre; the masterplanning and regeneration of Duisburg’s Inner Harbour, the new German Parliament at the Reichstag in Berlin and the headquarters for Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

More recent projects include City Hall, the Greater London Authority headquarters, the Free University of Berlin, an innovative solution for glass tube cladding at Tower Place, London and research and development headquarters for McLaren in Surrey. He has also developed a vision for sustainable living and the wider use of renewable energy in the UK with the Department of Trade and Industry. At Foster + Partners he leads research and development of new sustainable designs and the use of new materials and methods in construction, establishing a materials resource centre which is available practice-wide.

Since 1995 he has been a professor at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, holding the Chair for Building Construction, Technology and Design. He has led several research projects in this field, some of which were funded by the European Commission. A number of his books including “Sol Power”, discussing the use of solar energy in architecture that he wrote together with his wife, Sofia, and “Glass, Structure and Technology” have been published.

Since 2004 he has been a senior partner, a member of the executive board and the design review board, which ensures design excellence combined with innovation and sustainability in the work of the practice. He recently became Group Leader, taking responsibility for an international portfolio of education, commercial, residential and cultural projects.