Phil Cooper

is the Founder of Hope Architects

Tell us about your career journey. How did you get started in the field of architecture?

I’ve always wanted to be an Architect. My mum was a Building Services Engineer and I often tagged along to her office. I ended up doing some work experience at an architect practice and never looked back. After graduating from The Bartlett, I held a few roles down South, working on high-end houses and house-builder-type design work. It was after I moved to Bloor Homes that I began to study data on optimising layouts, which would have a huge impact on the future direction of my career. In 2019, I started Hope Architects.

Were there any pivotal moments or experiences that solidified your decision to pursue a career in architecture and design?

The idea of the home has drawn me to architecture. Children grow up in homes, people form and nurture relationships there and they create cherished memories that will last a lifetime. When it comes to the built environment, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a concept as important as the home. Whenever I’m working on a new home or development, I think about the future of those homes and the people that will inhabit them. This is what stands out for me and where my passion for architecture lies.

If you hadn’t followed your passion for being an architect, what other career path would you have pursued?

Oddly enough, I had a couple of years’ career break between my degree and master’s, during which time I ran a shotgun dealership at a fairly prestigious clay pigeon shooting school. This was a great experience, as I learned a trade I was unfamiliar with, built relationships with clients of all types and tried to grow a small business. If I had to choose another career now, I’d love to train to be a pilot. I’ve been learning sporadically in my spare time over the last few years, and I enjoy the mixture of science, maths, skill and freedom that comes with it.

What has been your greatest influence and source of inspiration?

There’s a quote that I always remember, try to live by and try to get my team to embrace as well: “The work I do tomorrow will be the best work I’ve ever done.” For me, it always ensures I’m pushing forward, trying to improve how we do things and make each project we do a little (or a lot) better than the last. It also allows today to be a bad day while promising that tomorrow will be better.

What’s been the most memorable project you’ve worked on, and for what reason?

One of the earliest projects I worked on was the fit-out of a penthouse apartment very close to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on London’s South Bank. I’ve never forgotten the satisfaction of working on incredibly-detailed joinery drawings and watching them come together to create carefully-crafted spaces. The project really taught me the value of attention to detail to ensure the initial design vision gets realised correctly.

More recently, I’m really proud to have been involved in the scheme at Hulton Park, Bolton, which involves the regeneration of the site of a derelict country house and its historically-notable gardens into a golf resort fit to host the Ryder Cup. I think the scope and ambition of the scheme (which will also deliver a thousand homes) is incredible, and it stands to transform an area of Bolton into a world-class facility and neighbourhood. I’m really hopeful that the stars will line up and the scheme will proceed so I can see how it works out.

Could you walk us through a typical workday in your current role?

As much as there is a typical day at Hope, it’s something like:

•  Morning at the gym and a short dog walk

•  Over to the office and catch up with the team

•  If I have meetings, I’ll hide away to not disturb everyone

•  For design work, I’ll pick a desk in the main studio with the rest of the team

•  For lunch, we’ll take the dogs for a 20-minute jaunt and grab a sandwich from Coleman’s Deli in the centre of Hathersage.

What is your favourite building and why?

It’s a bit of a curveball, but my favourite building is the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury. It’s a great early example of a mixed-use development with a public street running through the middle. Flats are piled on top of it and step backwards so that each flat has its own winter garden and balcony space. The best part is the space between the lifts and the front doors for the flats, which creates an uncanny, dystopian space in the middle of the building. This area was featured in the recent Disney series Andor.

In your opinion, who is the greatest architectural mastermind of our time?

I’m a big Richard Rogers fan and have always been impressed by his combination of vision and sensibility. His thoughts about cities and urban design are as revolutionary as his buildings, but they often don’t get the recognition they deserve. For a living architect, I will pick Winy Maas of MVRDV. I’ve always been thrilled by their buildings, and their early book, ‘FARMAX: Excursions on Density’, greatly influenced my approach towards development. As a third option, if it still counts as ‘of our time’, I’m including Frank Lloyd Wright because he’s Frank Lloyd Wright, and I’ve never seen anything he’s done that I didn’t love with all my heart ever since I was a young boy.

If you were hosting a dinner party to discuss architecture and design, and you could invite three individuals, either from the past or the present, who would you choose to join your conversation?

I’d like to foster a unique and a passionate discussion about how we build new homes. I’d pick:

•  Jos Boys, who was a Founder of the Matrix Feminist Design Co-Operative, wrote about diversity in architecture and public spaces long before anyone else and continues to innovate on the subject

•  Jack Monroe, the Food Blogger and Social Activist, who I think would have much to say on the subject of designing homes for people with minimal resources and income

•  The Government’s housing minister will be present on the day of the dinner party so that they can come and listen and try to understand why the country faces a housing shortage.

Looking ahead, what exciting projects or initiatives can we anticipate from you in the coming year?

Right now, we’re focused on some exciting projects we have lined up for the second half of 2024. We’re due to move our studio into Sheffield city centre in early 2025, so that’s going to be a big change. This is part of a plan to grow the business by being in a location where we can attract the very best team members we can. I will still be based in the Peak District, and we will certainly maintain our base here because it’s a key part of our original DNA. But we see our future growth in a more urban location; possibly more than one in the future!