Behnisch, Stefan

Stefan Behnisch, born 1957 in Stuttgart, studied philosophy, economics and architecture in Munich and Karlsruhe, Germany. He worked as an architect in Behnisch & Partner, the practice founded by his father Günter Behnisch, before founding his own practice in 1989. This practice, Behnisch Architekten, became mainly renowned for various innovative sustainable buildings, for example the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research in Wageningen, The Netherlands. As the firm expanded, further offices were founded in Los Angeles, CA (1999), in Boston, MA (2007), and in Munich (2008). Stefan Behnisch has been an advocate of sustainable design since he started working as an architect. Many of his buildings received prestigious awards, and the Genzyme Center in Cambridge, MA, was rated LEED Platinum. He has worked on Harvard’s Allston Science Complex in Allston/Boston and residential buildings in the USA and Germany, as well as on office buildings, laboratories, health care buildings, museums, etc. in various countries. He is also responsible for the John and Frances Angelos Law Center for the University of Baltimore. In 2007 he received a Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (one of five) and in 2009 a Good Design Award in the category “People” presented by the Chicago Athenaeum and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. In 2008 he was named Honorary Fellow of the AIA - American Institute of Architects. Stefan Behnisch was the Eero Saarinen Chair visiting professor at Yale School of Architecture in 2005, 2006, and 2008.