An Enterprise with a Purpose
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I saw the immediate and urgent need of families and kids for more space to work, study, and stretch out. At the same time, the real estate market has continued its rapid acceleration, challenging traditional real estate solutions for more space.
In 2022, I responded to this need with my creativity and passion for placemaking, founding ORIGIN STUDIO to create beautiful, functional, and elevating spaces that can be delivered without interruption to our already complex day-to-day realities.
Below I share more about this approach and the larger pursuit of greater wellbeing.
Brian's work on housing around the world has been featured by:
My Origin Story: Space, Well-being, and Creative Potential
I founded Origin Studio after decades of work around the world helping people and communities imagine and build a better future. It has been a joy to turn this experience to help families address the need for space in our new work-from-home norms and due to economic constraints that the real estate market poses on many families. I have always focused on how investments like this support one’s overall well-being, and I am taking this same holistic approach with Origin Studio.
The pandemic was a moment of reflection and transition for rebalancing our personal and professional lives. The very institutions of our families and workplaces were forced to rethink how to strike a balance in establishing boundaries and connections.
At the center of this is a new priority given to our well-being. We are asking, “Is this the career I want to spend my life and energy on”, or “do I want to return to my daily commute to my office downtown?” And the mental health toll of the pandemic added new urgency to these questions.
In my youth, I watched how our built environments could be restrictive or supportive of our personal and collective well-being. That’s why I pursued my studies in architecture, urban planning, and environmental science. And that’s how I became involved at an early age building houses for Habitat for Humanity, and then working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address systemic issues of housing and urban poverty around the world. In fact, this passion took me to more than 20 countries designing and implementing housing and economic development projects.
Over the years, I have continued to learn and follow my endless curiosity into how we can create healthier places and spaces, and the joy of facilitating community along the way. Most recently, I have been contributing to projects focused on the mental health of youth in cities globally with Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures and in Philadelphia in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.
I’m excited to continue on this journey with the growth of Origin Studio. I want your investment in an Origin Studio to be an investment new space that nurtures balance in your personal and professional lives and a place where you can reach for your highest creative potential.
I hope you will consider us as you imagine new space for your home and family.
Brian English
Purpose & Creativity
As much as I like planning cities, housing, and community programs, I also like making things with my own hands. I have a reverence for the process of manifesting things and I try and instill this sense of possibility and creativity in my family. My son Gabriel has been a tremendous source of intelligence, inspiration and energy in ORIGIN STUDIO, and with his sister, they are budding creators with enterprising spirits.
