Ben Atchison, RA
Staff Architect
Benjamin Atchison started at MetroStuido in May of 2017 after moving to New Orleans from Willmar, Minnesota, to pursue his seemingly life-long career path of Architecture. As a child Ben was always designing or creating structures and buildings out of various materials and it is said by people close to him that Architecture chose him, not the other way around. This passion for architecture steered his path to Louisiana and his present-day career.
After earning his undergrad and master’s degrees from North Dakota State University, Ben worked with Engan Associates in Minnesota for 2 ½ years. He credits this experience with teaching him the basic skills to design buildings and create building documents. Ben’s time at Engan gave him the opportunity to help enhance public places through architecture like a museum, bank, treatment center, and orthopedic center.
While Ben has been at MetroStudio, he has enjoyed helping design various types of buildings and spaces, but says he likes restoration projects the best. “It can be fulfilling when you have to preserve the history of a place and retain the character of a building at the same time,” he says.
Ben’s recent project involvement at MetroStudio included completing the historic renovation of the boutique hotel Granada in Atlanta, GA and a full city-block wide, multi-purpose campus in New Orleans — including luxury apartments, retail, and public spaces located on famous St. Charles Ave. He has also completed testing and is a registered Architect as of 2021. Ben’s moto has always been that he strives to maintain “the ability to design and build something that can create a sense of meaning and wonder in the client and myself.”