Harrison
CARMEL — CSEA member Ben Harrison’s tenure as Putnam County’s in-house architect has given existing county buildings a new lease on life and repurposed older structures that will carry the county into the future.
That work recently earned him a prestigious individual architectural honor when the American Institute of Architects New York State chapter presented Harrison with the 2020 Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Award, which recognizes the work of licensed architects employed in the public sector whose work has contributed to design excellence in public architecture.
“It’s a huge honor to receive this award,” said Harrison. “I’ve been very excited working with the county to help bring elements to promote the county further, not only in design but also in functionality and aesthetics.”
Harrison’s work on Putnam
County-owned Tilly Foster Farm dining room.
The New York chapter of the AIA first honored Putnam County in 2019 for the design and renovation of a barn at the county-owned Tilly Foster Farm. Harrison’s design, carried out by CSEA-represented county tradespeople, transformed a rustic barn into both an educational center for culinary and bioscience students from Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES and a farm-to-table restaurant and event space.
The Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller Award singles out Harrison for his individual contributions to public architecture. His experience includes working at private firms. Some of those projects were at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, SUNY Farmingdale, Ossining Village Hall, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Wentworth Institute of Technology, various public libraries, and HUD projects.
Harrison’s work on Putnam
County-owned Tilly Foster Farm Kitchen.
While the recent award singles out Harrison for his design work, he is quick to point out that his success as county architect has hinged on working cooperatively with other county departments. The perfect example of that is when he collaborated with workers from the county Office for the Aging to re-design existing space for two county senior centers in Cold Spring and Carmel. Little touches Harrison included after spending time with staff have made a big difference overall.
“I spent as much time as possible with the staff from the Office for the Aging,” said Harrison. “At our center in Cold Spring, I designed it to accommodate how you move through the space. The kitchen staff love using the kitchen because we factored into the design the way they move through the building.”
No matter the project, Harrison regularly works with various departments and county officials. That includes the county’s facilities team, which has skilled tradespeople; the county Executive’s office; the county Highway and Facilities Department; the county Purchasing Department; the county Health Department; the county Law Department; and members of the county’s information technology team.
The goal these days, Harrison said, is for both new builds and renovations to be designed with accessibility and functionality in mind. The senior center renovations, for example, not only factor in day-to-day functionality and ADA compliance, but are also designed with enough flexibility to allow county officials to reconfigure space should they need it in an emergency.
While many municipalities contract with outside firms, the value Harrison has brought shows why having an architect on staff makes sense. It prevents the county from having to pay for design changes, allows direct collaboration with other county departments, and makes it easier to complete some tasks without having to put them out for bid.
“I work with the county to develop something feasible that can work, not only at this time period, but be able to grow with them as the years go on,” said Harrison. “I ask during the project, ‘what do you plan on doing with the project now and what are your plans in a few years?’”
That’s the kind of expertise and dedication that demonstrates how CSEA members bring value to municipalities across New York State.
— Jessica Ladlee
