James Benedict Brown was born and raised in East Anglia. He went to school in Cambridge and Winchester before studying for a BA in Architecture at the University of Sheffield (2001 – 2004), thereby achieving RIBA Part I.
From 2004 – 2006 James lived and worked in Northern Ireland and Canada, firstly as a student architect for a large commercial design practice in Belfast and subsequently as an administrative assistant in Montréal, Québec. Returning to Sheffield in 2006 to study towards a Masters degree in Architecture (M.Arch), James qualified for RIBA Part II. This included a semester at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg and a brief period of employment in London. During this time he also participated in two live projects at Sheffield, including the 2006 Inconspicuous Yellow Office – an investigation into live projects and alternative architectural practice (pdf).
James graduated in 2008, his thesis design project proposing a museum and research facility of international frontiers built within the historic fortifications of the English/Scottish border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. His written dissertation, prepared during and after his semester in France, investigated the potential of comics and sequential art as a means to design and represent the built environment. That project utilised a blog as a research tool, and it remains online at nowordsnoaction.wordpress.com
James divides his time between Glasgow and Belfast, and lives with his Minnesotan fiancé (a dramaturg and playwright), two cats and too many books. His personal blog is at jamesbrownontheroad.wordpress.com. He tweets @jbenedictbrown and writes occasionally for Building Design.
