Ben Palmer – From creativity to architecture accreditation

My entire professional career to date has been locally within BCP since graduating the undergraduate course, as I was given great contacts in the area, all willing to guide a recent graduate in the professional world of architecture.

Each project during this course pushed my abilities into different scales of analysis and design that meant I was a well-rounded designer by the end of the course. Analysing large scale urban, rural and coastal planning to analysing construction details are the building blocks of a good architect. The University provided a variety of mediums to produce this information as both digital and physical models such as 3D rendering software or conceptual metal and woodwork models.

The Master of Architecture course gave a great level of flexibility to start specialising in what I wanted my career to be based around. I had a focus on public and social architecture, which I now work in following our end-of-year show.

For my thesis piece, I looked at the university’s collaborative ethos fostered a joint thesis project with a Dance student. With the taboo of a complex history in smuggling during the French Revolution, leading to the formation of modern-day Kinson and its ranging fake history of the Village Green to the original uses of Pelhams House for French wine smuggling, meaning that much of its architecture is not considerate of its context. These buildings have harsh boundaries of public to private and this is reciprocated in the development of The Kinson Hub, which expresses a brick mass in the postmodern typology, out of its time and inconsiderate of the neighbouring Village Green that was renovated just three years prior to construction start.

This project looked at removing the boundary of public to private, man-made to nature, inside to outside, to entice people to use an education centre that is premised around collaboration and physical book reading as a methodology of research, in a space that is radically inclusive of the community. This project encapsulated my want for a specialism – public buildings that benefit locals, both physically and mentally. Creating these semi-abstract visuals for the brief allowed for some varied understanding as to how this building is to be designed rather than providing a full set of drawings. This innovative approach was showcased in a video illustrating the impact of materiality and layout on user movement.

In practice, I utilise the skills I picked up from university including sketching, analysing, researching, to name just a few. Studying M.Arch. solidified those skills drastically, to the point that I can produce efficiently and to the level of art and design I want to bring to a project. I was able to take these skills and study the Part III in Architecture at a different university where I received accreditation as an architect (graduating in 2024). This is a long education path, but completely and utterly worth it if you care about architecture, art and design.

I owe much to AUB. The course leader, the technical tutors and professional mentors guided me. Without their support, I would not be where I am today, contributing to meaningful architectural projects. So here I am – Ben Palmer, an accredited architect, ready to shape spaces that resonate with people and communities.