Michael DiBenedetto

Architecture is crucial to our future lives because it is a collective means to solving significant climatic and systemic issues. Designers balance myriad relationships over time and space. Architecture is an opportunity to express compassion through design that can fundamentally change the way we live.Situating public priorities is a responsibility with great consequence. I see it as a unique privilege, to organize priorities in-relation to extraordinary circumstances. Consideration and assembly are important here. Collaboration in any design process is imperative, seemingly small decisions can affect immense change. The resulting organization of parts - whether it be architectural or not - represents a series of weighted compromises. As climate change accelerates, communities across the globe face threats to housing, education, and life-sustaining infrastructure. We as designers have a collective responsibility to embrace sustainability as an ideology, not a number to hit. To listen and respond to climatic shifts is to bring lasting change from the ground up. Most critical in this pursuit, is knowing that what we do and how we do it matters. I have work experience in design, managerial, and academic settings. I’m very approachable and exceptionally driven. I am a compassionate artist with strong creative intuition and a knack for technical, detail-oriented work. A teacher at heart, I have made a living by learning new skills and helping others figure it out. I lead by example to bring empathy and positivity to any team. No matter the learning curve, I have confidence in my ability to learn quickly and immerse myself in new territory. My work-ethic and flexible-routine has taught me to navigate stress, manage workloads, and subdivide learning curves into workable parts. I learn most greatly from past mistakes and failures, believing in a path to success despite adverse or ‘unprecedented’ conditions.