About Ben:
Ben K. Mickus is an award-winning designer and practicing architect. Ben’s first job was in a lumber yard where he learned the fundamentals of building. He studied architecture at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and then earned a Master of Architecture from UCLA.
Ben has 17 years of experience in cultural, educational and mixed-use architecture with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, SOM and WRNS Studio. He was a lead designer on the $1.2bn Lincoln Center Transformation in New York, and project lead on the College of Arts at Cal State University Monterey Bay. He has helped shaped multi-block urban master plans from Beijing to the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, Ben has been designing furniture and lighting independently for the past 14 years. His furniture designs are included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, and his lighting designs have been installed around the world.
His work has been exhibited in “Fashioning Felt” at the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York, The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, “Spot” at DesignPhiladelphia, and “Beyond Media” in Florence, Italy.
Among his influences, Ben counts the cities in which he has lived and worked, including San Francisco, New York, Washington DC, and Copenhagen.
Ben lives in Alameda, California, with his wife and two children.