Bruce Beinfield, FAIA
Founding Principal
After obtaining his Master of Architecture from the University of Colorado in 1978, Bruce Beinfield returned to Connecticut in 1983 to establish what was to become Beinfield Architecture PC. He has built an idea-driven practice whose work is inspired by place, culture, and history. Quickly gaining a reputation for excellence in design and service, he has been the recipient of numerous design awards for his residential, commercial, retail, and restaurant work and has become an acknowledged expert in the adaptive re-use of existing buildings.
In 1997 Bruce received an AIA Special Achievement Award for Architectural Excellence for his visionary role in orchestrating the revitalization of the SoNo District in Norwalk, Connecticut. There he helped transform an urban slum into a vital, arts-oriented community, highlighting the history of the waterfront and infusing it with life. Beinfield has completed over 150 projects in that neighborhood for over 40 different clients and has effectively beaten back urban blight. His projects have included the adaptive reuse and preservation of historic buildings, as well as new structures that have mended the fragmented urban fabric. In the restaurants, offices, retail, residential, and civic buildings he designed, it was his architecture that spoke of renewal and it was the raw energy of his work that endowed the place with life. In 2008, Beinfield won an AIA award for the design of Kinetic Energy Sculptures to enhance connectivity between the Stepping Stones Museum for Children and the proposed Waypoint project.
Always concerned with place-making, Bruce has also recreated the village center of Rowayton Connecticut, where he has kept alive an endangered species of the 21st century, the small town. His contextual architecture has nurtured the unique village character of the community and has reinforced the romantic mythology of the pace. Rather than allow the village to be destroyed by indifferent development and big box competition, his work has fostered renewal and resulted in a revitalized community.
Bruce has acted as a visiting critic at the University of Colorado, and Yale University. He is licensed in Connecticut and Massachussetts and is certified by the National Council of Architectural Review Boards. He has served as Treasurer to the Connecticut Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, on the board of directors for the Housing Development Fund of Fairfield County and the Stepping Stones Museum for Children.