Resume MichaelBenz
Architect
Mike Benz, AIA
NCARB certified
Registered Architect in
17 states (5 active Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Georgia and Florida)
Registered Architect
since 1986 State of Original Registration - Texas
Objective
Utilize my extensive
experience and knowledge of the architectural and construction fields to
represent or guide owners through the programming, design and construction
process with an eye towards flexibility, design, pragmatism and future business
trends.
Education
Bachelor of
Architecture and Design, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, 1983
Work History
SPACE LLC January 1, 2007
November 1, 2010
4168 Manchester
St. Louis, Missouri, 63110
314.647.2020
Partner and Principal
of Space Architectural Design Studio
Responsibilities
included Business Development, Client Management, and Project Design Leadership.
Space is a small firm so as a partner my role was multi-functional in that I performed
Marketing, Business Development and Business Management Duties as well as provided
the primary design and project leadership throughout. Project types included a
45,000sf office building for Mercy Health Plans, 6,000sf LEED Certified home in
Aspen, Colorado,
many corporate office projects as well as numerous restaurants. At SPACE we
also formed a construction arm and had successfully built 8 to 10 projects as
of November, 2010.
Forum Studio June,
1999 December, 2006
2199 Innerbelt Business Center Drive
St. Louis, Missouri
314.429.5100
As Founder and
Principal of Forum Studio, the architectural subsidy of CLAYCO Design Build
Construction Company, my role was to create a firm that could support the
increasing demands of a fast growing national design-build firm. Building the
business required hiring and managing the staff, managing the economics, creating
an office culture, guiding the design philosophy, managing clients from both
the Clayco side as well as independent clients. In addition to these duties I
also designed and oversaw production on a variety of projects ranging from
million square foot distribution centers, 500,000sf regional corporate office
headquarters, and 100,000sf high tech manufacturing buildings to 20,000sf
Harley Davidson Dealers, 5,000sf restaurants and the renovation of Aviation
fields in Forest Park. I helped grow Forum Studio from our initial handful of
people to nearly 70 when I left on good terms in the beginning of 2007 to form
another smaller, boutique firm with an old friend.
The most remarkable
aspect of my time with Clayco Construction was the experience in collaborating
so closely with construction project managers from the very inception of a
project to the end. Gaining an inside look at the logistics, planning, phasing
and scheduling issues on the construction side of implementing a project helped
me as both an architect and all round project leader.
MichaelBenz
Architect
Mackey Mitchell Associates: June, 1996 June 1999
800 St Louis Union Station
St. Louis, Missouri 63103
314-421-1815
Design Leader and
Project Architect
As a senior designer at
MMA my role was primarily as project designer for a wide range of projects
including a Performance Auditorium/Classroom and Rehearsal Space addition for
East Central Junior College, Corporate Woods Office Park in Earth City,
Missouri, The renovation and expansion of Busch Memorial Student Union at SLU
University, Commerce Bank Main Branch Renovation in Clayton, MO, The Master
Plan and Phase 1 Building of the Highlands Office Park on Oakland Avenue, Ladue
High School Natatorium and Gymnasium Expansion.
Responsibilities
included client management, program preparation, design and documentation of
the projects themselves. This was my first experience at a senior level with
Institutional clients - whose decision making and project process is much
different than the corporate or speculative world. I also left MMA on very good
terms to pursue a great opportunity provided to me by one of my clients, Clayco
Construction. Claycos CEO, Bob Clark hired me to start up their Architectural
Firm, which became Forum Studio.
Interior Space Incorporated (now known as Arcturis) January, 1990 June 1996
720 Olive St. Ste 200
St. Louis, Missouri 63101
314.206.7100
Project Architect and
Project Design Leader
The majority of my time
at I.S.I. was spent designing large interior architecture projects for big
corporations. Responsibilities included client interface, program development,
design and presentation work as well as construction documentation. Successes there
included the Headquarters for Blue Cross Blue shield of Missouri,
Mallinckrodt Specialty Chemical Headquarters in Chesterfield,
MO, The first Ralcorp Headquarters, A major Check Processing
Center for Magna Bank in Belleville, Illinois,
Edward D. Jones Renovations at Progress
Parkway and several other corporate interior
projects around the region. This was my first exposure to working and
collaborating with CEOs of major Corporations and opened my eyes regarding the
secret formula for successful projects - getting buy-in from the top. I
learned that the successful CEOs respect the people or experts around them
and know how to make the right decisions based on their input. I enjoyed my time at ISI (Arcturis) immensely
as I saw it grow form 13 of us to 60 when I left. But I took the opportunity to
get back in to more ground-up architectural projects and moved to Mackey
Mitchell Associates.
Michael Fox Associates (now Fox Architects) August 1987 January 1990
500 Washington Ave Ste 1250
St. Louis, Missouri 63101
314.621.4343
I was hired by MFA to
beef up their architectural staff as they were about to embark on doing more
ground-up architectural work due to their purchase of the firm St. Louis
Architects from Mitch LaPlante.
This type of work never
materialized during my time there so as a result it became my first exposure to
pure Interior Architecture. My role was primarily as a project designer with
client exposure and interaction. Although ambivalent about doing interiors at
the time it turned out to be immensely satisfying because of the shorter
schedules from project incubation to fruition. It was fun to see a project
realized so soon after it was a mere concept on a piece of paper. This
experience was also centered mostly on various corporate interiors and tenant
finish projects. I performed every aspect of the project from programming
though design documentation and construction administration.
The Architects Office Corporation May 1984 August 1986
1712 Rio Grande
Austin, Texas 78701
512.478.5555
I moved to Austin, Texas
a year out of school and started working for AOC, a small 13 person firm in an
exciting and growing city. After working on large healthcare projects
throughout college internships and a year after graduating, it was refreshing
to work on smaller and different project types. Austin was, and still is, a progressive,
growing and bustling city. Working for a small firm on smaller project like
condominiums, restaurants and residential developments was a fun change of pace
for me. Being a small firm it was my first exposure to all aspects of a project
design, client interaction, construction documentation and administration. I
won my first AIA design award here for a Modern Mexican Restaurant called Tula.
MichaelBenz Architect
Work History Cont.
Kenneth Wischmeyer and Partners Wischmeyer
Architects June
1978 May 1984
St. Louis Missouri
Defunct (Purchased by
Farnsworth Group approx 10 years ago)
I first began working
with Wischmeyer my summer after graduating from high school and continued with
them though subsequent summers, an internship and for one year after college
graduation. This firm is what taught me the value that technical skills can
bring to the education of a good designer. My primary role here was as an
intern technical and production person. The project type was almost exclusively
in Healthcare. Although I did design my first professional project while at
Wischmeyer a 5,000sf law office in the Equitable Bldg downtown.
Project Experience
Blue Cross
Blue Shield of Missouri St. Louis, Missouri
250,000 s.f., Regional Headquarters and Customer
care center (renovation of 3 Downtown
ST. Louis
Bldgs in to one facility)
Mallinckrodt
Group Inc Clayton, Missouri
60,000 s.f., corporate headquarters,
interior renovation
Magna Bank
Processing Center
Belleville, Illinois
150,000 s.f., check processing and call
center
Mallinckrodt
Specialty Chemicals Chesterfield,
Missouri
80,000sf Corporate Headquarters
Jordan
Furniture Taunton (Boston),
Massachusetts
70,000 s.f., office building and
interiors, new construction
700,000 s.f., distribution center, new
construction
Ladue High
School Renovation and Expansion Ladue, Missouri
20,000 s.f. gymnasium and natatorium
addition and MEP renovation of existing school
Ladue School
District Renovations Ladue,
Missouri
Miscellaneous renovations and additions to
middle and grade school classrooms and library
East Central
Community College Performing Arts
Addition Union, Missouri
100,000 s.f. addition including auditorium,
performing arts classrooms and rehearsal rooms
Busch
Memorial Hall at Saint Louis University St.
Louis, Missouri
95,000 s.f. renovation and 75,000 s.f.
ballroom and atrium addition to the Student Union
Olsen Garden
Learning Center
St. Louis, Missouri
2,500sf Learning Ctr for Terminally Ill
Children adj. to the rooftop Olsen
Garden at Childrens
Hospital
Rosebud
Ranch Snowmass, Colorado
6,000sf LEED certified residence in Old
Snowmass.
The Case
Residence Basalt, Colorado
2,400sf residence
Chapman
Cabin, Katherine Cabin, Jontes Cabin, Basalt
River Lodge Basalt, Colorado
The
renovation and additions to several homes in Basalt Colorado
The
Highlands Mixed Use Development St.
Louis, Missouri
Master Plan and Phase 1 Office Building
Corporate Woods Office Park
Earth City, Missouri
2 building 300,000sf Campus at I-70 and
Earth City Expressway
The Annex
Lofts
145,000 sf renovation (adaptive re-use)
of the General American Life Insurance
Company Building
in downtown St. Louis.
Cupples
Station Lofts St. Louis, Missouri
240,000 s.f. residential adaptive re-use
CitiMortgage
Regional Headquarters OFallon, Missouri
515,000 s.f. new construction
Forum
Studio Overland, Missouri
15,000 s.f., office, tenant interiors
Clayco
Construction Company Overland, Missouri
60,000 s.f., office renovation and
expansion
Docs
Harley Davidson Kirkwood,
Missouri
30,000 s.f. retail/service center for Harley Davidson
Aviation
Fields Recreational Complex (Forest Park) St. Louis, Missouri
Field renovation for multi-use sports and
Restroom/Concession Stand Facility
Riverport
Master Plan and Building One Maryland Heights, Missouri
MichaelBenz Architect
Project Experience
Cont
16 acres, speculative office master plan and Phase One Building (called Riverport 4 for some
reason)
American Waterworks Alton, Illinois
58,000
s.f., customer care center, new construction, tenant interiors, and interior
expansion
Single Source
Roofing Headquarters
Building Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
35,000 s.f. office building, new
construction
Mercy
Health Plans
43,000sf Customer
Service Center
in Springfield, MO
Hancock
Securities - Webster Groves, Missouri
8,000sf Corporate Office
Tula
Mexican Restaurant Austin,
Texas
9,000 s.f. Modern Mexican Restaurant, new
construction
Orsinis
Italian Restaurant Austin,
Texas
10,500 s.f. renovation
Davenport Ranch Retail
Center Austin Texas
The town center for a large planned unit
residential development
Fairpark at
Davenport Austin, Texas
Prototype home designs for upscale home
development
Awards and
Publications
2009 Local AIA award
for BOBO Noodle House
2006 National DBIA award in the
Adaptive re-use category for the Cupples Station Loft Apartments
2001
Concrete Council Design award for Docs Harley Davidson
1996
AIA Merit award for Mallinckrodt Specialty Chemicals
1994
AIA Honor Award for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri Corp Headquarters
1994
DuPont merit award for creative use of Carpet Blue Cross Corp. Headquarters
1993
AIA Merit Award for Interior Design I.S.I (Arcturis) Corporate Offices
1987
AIA Honorable Mention Award for Orsinis Italian Restaurant
1986
AIA Honor Award for Tula Mexican Restaurant
Professional
Affiliations
Member
American Institute of Architects
International
Facility Management Association
Urban
Land Institute
Member
of Steelcase National Design Advisory Board
Design
Build Institute of America
Other Hobbies
and Interests
Sustainability
in Design - Have been involved with this
issue since a 1982 class in College
Habitat
for Humanity participant
Hiking,
Kayaking Camping and Skiing
Played
Soccer and Hockey up until a couple years ago.and will still return!
Art
Painting, and drawing
MichaelBenz
Architect
References:
Mr. Bob Clark CEO Clayco
Construction Company
2199 Innerbelt Business Center Drive,
St. Louis, Missouri, 63114
314.429.5100
Ms Judy Burns
(President) and Mr. Robert Burns (Vice President) - Owners, Patriot Machine Inc
76 South
Corporate Hills Dr
St. Charles, Missouri
636.940.8200
Ms Donna McDaniel Vice
President HR, Mercy Health Plans
14528 South
Outer Forty Rd,
Ste. 300
Chesterfield, MO 63017
(314) 214-8133
Mr. Robert Chapman CEO Barry
Wehmiller Companies
8020 Forsythe
Clayton, Missouri
314.862.8000
Mr. Doug Pope Discovery
Group
1810 Craig Road Ste# 215
St. Louis, Missouri 63146
314.205.8700
Mr. Jim Didion
CORVUS, LLC Trammell
Crow Company
111
Bogey Estates Drive
St.
Charles, MO 63303
314-550-5509
Mr.
Larry Chapman
Chapman Ventures LLC
1600
S. Brentwood Blvd., Suite 770
St.
Louis,
MO 63144
Direct Ph: 314-373-7786
Mr.
Mitch Orlando
Owner, Icon Construction
3122
Sutton Boulevard
Maplewood, Missouri 63143
314.962.2211
Mr.
Alex Borchert - Director of Asset Management,
Koch Development Co.
222 S. Central Ave. Suite 1100
St. Louis, MO 63105
(o) 314.333.5624
x116
Mr.
Robert Borchert
Founder Midwest
Bank Centre
314. 707-1109 cell
Mr. Dan Mitchell Partner
Mackey Mitchell Associates
800 Union
Station
St. Louis, Missouri 63103
314.421.1815
