My name is Carmen! This section contains a little about me as a person and where my love for design stems from, so feel free to read, though all the really important bits are on my CV which you can find here!

Growing up in Oxford, I was unable to escape my obsession for architecture as around each corner was another incredible example of design. I spent my childhood exploring the Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums with my dad, my teenage years were filled with visits to the modernist city library, and I even went so far as to tailor my college commute to include cycling past the construction of Zaha Hadid’s Investcorp building. As a child I was constantly designing dream floor-plans for my friends, and spent hours upon hours creating shoe box houses for my Lego mini-figures.

At college between 2015-17 I studied a BTEC in Games Development and Animation and was guided towards studying design by my tutor who also had studied Spatial Design at university. Through her, I discovered Falmouth University, which I then attended from 2017-20 studying BA(Hons) Interior Design and achieved a high 2:1. I absolutely loved studying at Falmouth as I was able to develop my skills in design conception, planning, and production, incorporating my love for architectural illustration into each and every one of my projects. I discovered I particularly enjoyed the adaptive reuse of old buildings, highlighting the importance of preservation. It was through one of my 2nd year essays at Falmouth that I realised the full extent of my love for Brutalism, a movement which has become the subject of a number of my essays since including both my undergrad and postgraduate Dissertations.

Upon finishing my undergraduate studies, I found that my understanding of architectural history was not as fulfilled as I would have liked it to be, so I successfully applied to the Bartlett School of Architecture’s MA Architectural History course at UCL. Throughout my year of study at UCL I learned as much as I possibly could, all whilst working a near full-time job through the Covid-19 pandemic. My time studying at UCL has been incredibly valuable, and has allowed me to explore the theoretical and philosophical sides to architectural design, as well as learning to understand the social, cultural, and political impacts that can affect design movements. In October 2021 I graduated from my UCL Masters Degree with a Merit (2:1 equivalent), and have continued to work whilst actively applying for jobs in the design industry.

 Between April and June 2022, I travelled to Muizenberg, Cape Town to volunteer teach at a primary school in the Capricorn Township. In May 2022, whilst in South Africa, I enrolled on an online short course in 'Western Architecture: The Modern Era' at the University of Oxford. 

You can contact me through the contact me section of my portfolio, or at cd.carmendowning@gmail.com