Benjamin D. Kracauer, AIA
Benjamin D. Kracauer, AIA brings extensive building experience to Archimuse. Constructed Archimuse projects headed by Mr. Kracauer include The Equitable Gallery, the Mary Ryan Gallery, and the Alex Gallery in New York City; the Used Book Café, three thrift shops and a health-care facility for Housing Works, Inc., a New York City based charitable organization; the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach, California; and Sotheby's Exhibition Furniture and Property Storage in New York City. For an office complex in Montreal, Canada, Mr. Kracauer has overseen the renovation of its public spaces, including selecting and installing sculpture and painting within an urban and architectural setting. For the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York, Mr. Kracauer has crafted a Master Plan redefining this leading regional museum over the past ten years and culminating in the West Wing Addition.
Upon receiving his degree in Architecture from Princeton University in 1979, Mr. Kracauer worked with Michael Graves Architect and Venturi, Rauch, and Scott Brown Architects. Later, as project architect at Edward Larrabee Barnes/John M.Y. Lee Architects, he headed the addition and renovation of the Birmingham Museum of Art, including a sculpture garden in collaboration with Elyn Zimmerman; the new Knoxville Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art at Equitable Center. Also working with the Equitable, he has installed major outdoor urban art commissions that include sculptor Scott Burton's "Urban Plazas: North and South"; sculptor Barry Flanagan’s "Leaping Hare" and "Young Elephant"; and Sol Lewitt’s "Wall Drawing".
Mr. Kracauer was visiting lecturer at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, curator of Bay Head Historical Society and New Jersey Museum of Boating, lectured widely on issues pertaining to architecture and art and participated in numerous panel discussions, and was co-editor of VIA 4: Culture and the Social Vision, published by the MIT Press. Mr. Kracauer is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).