Architecture and the Science of the Senses – Stefan Behling

Architecture and the Science of the Senses – Stefan Behling

“As an architect you have an amazing opportunity to change people’s lives. That is one of the great side effects of this job. You can truly make a difference.” – Stefan Behling

“The flip side of that is a pretty big responsibility because whatever we do is around for quite a long time. And then the next complication in this is that we actually can’t really make any decisions, we can only be the advocates and try to get you, the clients to do something, we don’t decide anything, at the end of the day it is the client.” – Stefan Behling

Stefan is a Senior Executive Partner at Foster + Partners and head of Studio 4. He leads the practice’s research into sustainable design 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), a multi-disciplinary research team who are experts in all aspects of environmental analysis, computational design, architecture for the senses, and digital fabrication. He has worked on a number of projects that have pioneered new techniques for energy efficiency and resource management, including the Reichstag, New German Parliament in Berlin, the McLaren Technology Centre, London City Hall, the carbon-neutral settlement, Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, and his team is working on lunar and Mars projects. Currently he is involved in Apple’s new Headquarters in California. Stefan has held the chair for integrated design at the University Stuttgart, Germany, for 20 years. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx