BNPD // BNPD // BNPD //
BNPD stands for Benjamin Nelson Pennell Design, a practice which began in 2017 with the commission of a small residence in Northern California. We provide ordinary architectural services for additions, remodels, ground-up construction, and feasibility studies. When the occasion calls for it, we involve ourselves in construction as well; physically making custom-built furniture, ornamental applique, fiberglass sculpture, and structural steelwork. Read More
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RESIDENTIAL
300 John Lemley Ln. 2025
1011 2nd st. (pt 2) 2021
Samson’s Lair 2021
1011 2nd st. (pt 1) 2020
1102 Masonic Ave 2019
210 Semple St. 2017
COMMERCIAL
5278 College Ave. 2020
681 27th St. 2020
4750 Park Blvd. 2020
547 31st St. 2019
Port Tonic 2019
MISCELLANEOUS
Shinto Shed 2020
Ex-Embryo 2014
LA Streetlights 2020
Dragon Temple 2019
Strip Tease 2019
Design Village 2011
Skyhouse 2010
Sweat Lodge 2009
THEORETICAL
Hell High 2019
London Spec Housing 2018
St Patrick’s Cathedral 2018
TEXTS / ARCHIVED WORK SAMPLES
WORK SAMPLE (CURRENT) 2025
“DRAWING ON ARCHITECTURE” 2019
WORK SAMPLE (ARCHIVE) 2017
LECTURES / VIDEOS
Slanted Commune 2024
Territorial Conquest 2023
Strip Tease 2015
Ex-Embryo 2014
WEB ARCHIVE 2024
EX-EMBRYONDOC 234—34/2
PROGRAM: FURNITURE PIECE
CLIENT: PERSONAL
DATE: OCTOBER 2014
STATUS: BUILT
BUDGET: $1,400.00
Ex-Embryon is an “Egg Chair” based on the original design by Arne Jacobsen of the same name. It addresses the otherwise subdued relationship between frame and skin, heightening the polarized tectonic of steel and fiberglass. In order to resolve this condition of materiality, the offset shell of EX-EMBRYON(or C-1000, or just Egg Chair 2) is visually detached from its steel skeleton. Folding and bending generate stiffness through corrugation: the shell supports its shape, the frame supports the object in space.
Structurally, the punctured holes in the fiberglass are strengthened by extruding perpendicular nodes along the steel appendages (creating stiffness through folding). Aesthetically, the extruded nodes create a second “false joint” where both systems recognize the existence of the other, but disguise the real connection (bolted hardware, rubber gasket) within the form itself.
The voluptuous arm-rest is replaced by a folded steel shard that is cold to the touch. As such, Ex-Embryon is more than a performative object (a chair); it is a theatrical centerpiece, a sculptural artifact in its own right, designed to reflect the architecture of today and even tomorrow.