Ben Abelman

An urban designer with a focus on pre-design services, Ben translates zoning code—the DNA of a building—into building form. With over ten years professional experience in both the public and private sectors, Ben combines a thorough knowledge of New York City's regulatory framework with a sensitivity toward design.

Ben has always had a passion for creating cities, drawing countless maps of the places he and his parents visited on road trips. But while he knew that maps can capture the world on a page, he wanted to engage with it at a larger scale and so turned to architecture. Ever since he achieved degrees in architecture from Rhode Island School of Design and Columbia University, he has been shaping building narratives using the very rules and regulations from which design emerges.

Ben contributes regularly to pre-design zoning analysis and master planning on many of the NYC projects, from analyzing infill development opportunities within public housing super blocks as an urban designer with the New York City Housing Authority to participating on a team in MoMA's 2010 Rising Currents exhibition. His broad perspective from his work within the private and public sectors is invaluable to both his practice and to his teaching at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he is an assistant adjunct professor of urban design.