Kevin Bensman
Project Manager
SPRINGHOUSE ARCHITECTS
Q. What are some of the methods you use to incorporate sustainability into your day-to-day work?
A. Everyone is building green these days, that goes without question. From the insulation envelope to the materials and locally sourcing them, I think houses are being built tighter and tighter every year where back in the day they used to breathe. So, we’re paying closer attention to air quality and mechanical systems just to make sure we are not hurting ourselves.
What we like to pay the most attention to is the natural light and how you are living in it, and the wellness of it.
Q. What inspired you to become a residential architect?
A. My uncle, who is my godfather, bought me art supplies for every birthday and Christmas. One year he gave me a charcoal pencil set with markers, basically an introductory drawing set. I had a cousin that was three or four years older than I was and he was taking some art classes. I think I was 10 years old and my cousin taught me to do 2D perspective at a Christmas party. I took that and just ran with it. I was three or four years above all my classmates and a lot of them didn’t understand what I was doing. I would just come up with these really cool perspective drawings, drawn by hand, and I just really enjoyed doing that. Also, the Legos my parents bought me, my dad having a woodshop in the basement — drawing was just kind of ingrained in our family and I grew up around it. I kind of knew early on that I was going to go in that direction.