Benjamin McRae AIA I LEED AP I NCARB, Owner
Benjamin Studio - Architecture + Planning
McRae grew up in the northwest where he first fell in love with the outdoors and with Architecture. Spending his childhood exploring Oregon beaches and camping in the high desert, his connection to the outdoors is undeniable. It was in those early years that he also found an affinity for unique architecture. Whether it was his A-Frame childhood home, or exploring the Heceta Head Lighthouse, unique architecture intrigued him. “The first building that inspired me was my childhood home on the Oregon Coast, an A-Frame in the forest. It wasn’t like other homes in my neighborhood, with its high ceilings and expansive glass. This was the home that inspired me to sketch architecture and to design my own versions for fun,” said McRae. With an equally creative and curious mind, he found architecture to be a natural, intuitive fit.
McRae began his architecture education at the University of Oregon before transferring to the University of Arizona where he pursued a double major in Architecture and Structural Engineering. After graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Architecture, he moved to Phoenix where he started his career. Over the last 25 years he has worked for architecture firms of varied focus and size, learning about both public and private clients, large and small, simple to complex projects. Residential Architecture has been a passion throughout his entire career as he consistently created the time to complete numerous projects while also leading commercial architecture work.
While spending 11 years of his career with SmithGroup, he was able to lead some notable public work including the DPAA project located at Joint-Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, known to be the largest forensic anthropology laboratory in the world. This joint branch project for the Department of Defense has the mission of locating, recovering, and identifying all the MIA/POWs from all past conflicts. Aside from being an amazing mission to be part of, it turned out to be one of his most proud accomplishments. Most recently, as the Vice President and Principal Architect for LGE Design Group, he led numerous private developer projects and gained a deep knowledge for developer driven work all around the Phoenix area.