Stefan Behling

Senior Executive Partner, Head of Studio

Dipl.-Ing Arch, ARB, RIBA

Stefan Behling is a Senior Executive Partner, a member of the Design Board and Head of Studio. He has overseen a range of high-profile projects, from Apple Park in Cupertino to Bloomberg’s European Headquarters in the City of London, winner of the 2018 Stirling Prize. Stefan shares oversight of many projects in the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices and is leading the design of Kuwait’s new international airport. Stefan has combined the leadership of major projects with the creation of systems and teams to promote environmental design across the practice. He initiated the practice’s in-house Materials Research Centre, to harness the potential of the latest material advances and oversees the Specialist Modelling Group, who use mathematical analysis and research to help shape architecture that works with nature. His belief in the basic human need for fresh air, walkable urban districts and healthy, naturally ventilated buildings is a consistent theme through projects such as Apple’s offices in Battersea Power Station and wellness spaces, such as Manchester’s Maggie’s Centre. Stefan worked on the competition to design the Reichstag, the New German Parliament in Berlin, followed by Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, again an exemplar of natural ventilation. He studied architecture at the University of Aachen and, at 32, became Germany’s youngest professor, leading research into building technology and design at the University of Stuttgart. Stefan co-authored, Solar Power (1996) on the evolution of sustainable architecture – and in 2016, he delivered an influential TEDx talk called Architecture and the Science of the Senses.

Stefan Behling

Within the practice, I love that people have different interests. As humans, we are different. I’m super pushy on natural ventilation. Other people might have different themes that excite them.

Apple Westlake, Hangzhou

2015

Steve Jobs Theater

2017

Maggie’s Manchester

2016

Sulis Hospital Bath

2009

Tower Place West

2002

Lenbachhaus

2013

Masdar Institute

2015

Apple Zorlu Centre, Istanbul

2014

Apple Regent Street, London

2016

Reichstag, New German Parliament

1999

Apple Park

2018

Kuwait International Airport

2023

McLaren Technology Centre

2004

Apple Orchard Road, Singapore

2017

The Dolder Grand

2008

Apple Union Square, San Francisco

2016

Apple Michigan Avenue, Chicago

2017

Microelectronic Centre

1996

Apple Dubai Mall

2017

BMCE Branches

2011

National Bank of Kuwait

2020

Commerzbank Headquarters

1997

City Hall

2002

Bloomberg

2017

Red Dot Design Museum

1997

Business Promotion Centre

1993

Maggie's applies for planning permission for new Norman Foster designed Centre at The Christie

2014

Apple Al Maryah Island opens in Abu Dhabi

2022

5 minutes with Katy Harris

2024