5 minutes with Phil Cooper
Hope Architects is nothing without our people. Every month, we’ll be giving you a window into our team, getting to know the folks that help us make us who we are.
This month, we’re speaking to Hope Architects founder Phil Cooper.
What’s your history in the industry?
When starting out life in the industry, I held a few roles in the south of England, working on high-end houses and lots of resi, house builder-type design work.
At the time, I was spending a lot of time schlepping it up to Derbyshire to quench my thirst for rock climbing. It got to the point where I was keen to make the move up North and I eventually made the jump to Bloor Homes. I’d already had them as a client so slotting into their master planning architecture team was an obvious transition.
It was here that I got into the data of optimising layouts, something that would have a huge impact on the future direction of my career and Hope Architects.
After gaining valuable experience and developing my own approach to design, I started Hope Architects in 2019.
What attracted you to architecture in the first place?
The built environment runs in the family. My mum was a Building services engineer and I often tagged along to her office. Ultimately this led to me doing some work experience with architects and I never looked back.
If I’m honest I can’t remember ever not wanting to be an architect. It’s been a constant throughout my life.
What is it that makes architecture so special to you?
Homes are the things that have always drawn me to architecture. They’re so central to people’s lives and building something that people will genuinely love brings me a lot of gratification. Homes are where children grow up, where people form and nurture relationships, and where people make some of their happiest memories. In short, they’re central to many of the best things about civilisation.
Whenever I’m working on a home or a new development, I think about the future of those homes, the people who’ll live there, the memories they’ll make and remember for the rest of their lives. It probably won’t occur to them that the things they do every day - going up and down the stairs, enjoying the view of the garden from the window, pulling onto the drive – are experiences that we architects and designers have thought about in detail. It’s these little design touches that will improve people’s lives and make their homes a great place to live.
This is what stands out for me and where my passion for architecture lies.
What do you enjoy outside of architecture?
It’s the funny thing about running a business, your job is also kind of your hobby and tends to be quite all-encompassing. Away from Hope, I still do a bit of rock climbing when I can. I’m also learning to fly and when time allows I turn my hand to a bit of sheep farming on my friend's small holding. At home, I enjoy spending time with my family, my dog and my cat Herbert.