A partner in the Locust Valley, New York studio of Bentel & Bentel, Architects/Planners AIA, Bentel originally hails from New York. Prior to receiving his undergraduate degree in the visual arts at Princeton University, he was a sculptor in Pietrasanta, Italy. He received his graduate degree in architecture at Harvard University, where he was co-editor of the Harvard Architecture Review VII, and his post-graduate education in the history and theory of modern architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has taught at Harvard and MIT and delivered lectures at Rhode Island School of Design, National University (Mexico), Milan Polytechnic, Tokyo University, and Shanghai and Beijing Universities.