The New School

Victoria Benatar

Part-time Assistant Professor

Email
benatarv@newschool.edu

Office Location
A - 66 West 12th Street

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VICTORIA BENATAR: ARCHITECT New York, New York – Caracas, Venezuela

Registered architect, AIA, M/WBE NYS--NYC, CIV, CAV, LEED GREEN ASSOCIATE. https://exdarchitecture.com/

Victoria Benatar (AIA, ASID, MWBE, LEED GA) is the founder of Victoria Benatar Architect PLLC and a Co-Founder of EXD Architecture with Michelle Cianfaglione.

Victoria's curiosity includes extensive research on urban culture and human behavior, the transformative effects of shared economies on city design, the environmental impact of using healthy materials, and the influence of design experience on human behavior and well-being.

Using as a precedent the Lower Manhattan transformation in the 90’s, her firm is currently conducting research on the adaptive reuse of post COVID office buildings. These residential conversions will alleviate the city’s housing shortage.

In response to evolving paradigms, her firm is developing innovative designs typologies by integrating layered activities, 24-hour programming, and insights from neuroscience. The goal is to optimize space utilization, increase real estate value, and improve the overall quality of life creating new space experiences.

She has an Architecture degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela (1983) and a master’s degree in urban design and architecture from Columbia University (GSAPP) (1995). Victoria has been a professor for the past 28 years, first at Columbia University in the Urban Design department and currently at Parsons the New School for Design at the School of constructed environments (SCE), teaching courses on both architecture and interior design.

Since 2023, Victoria has extended her influence on civic engagement, serving as a Public Member of the NYC Community Board 6, to the Land Use and Waterfront Committee. This role reflects her dedication not only to shaping the built environment but also to actively participating in the improvement of the communities she serves.

Since 2024, she is serving on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York Board of Directors, a position that recognizes her commitment to the architectural profession and her advocacy for the vital role of architecture and design in our society.

She is an award-winning architect and interior designer with several published works. She has lectured at universities, organizations and with internationally renowned architects across the globe.

Victoria believes in the power of design to create a better and healthy life. Her objective as an architect is to help as much people as possible to improve the quality of their lives by improving the quality of their spaces, because DESIGN REALLY MATTERS!

Apart from her professional & academic life, Ms. Benatar is in the advisory board to Aid for Aids AID FOR AIDS International (AFAI) and AID FOR LIFE (ADL) both non--profit organizations committed to promote a better quality of life in the general population and achieving healthy societies by improving their wellbeing, quality of life and the respect for fundamental human right

In Venezuela she also contributes helping FUNDANA a non profit organization that house and aid children that have been victims of negligence & abuse and Espacio Anna Frank, dedicated to promote the practice of coexistence through culture and education.