Studio · Baltimore
BEN BALL
A designer, fabricator and former construction-firm founder, with a background in engineering, architecture and large-scale restoration. The Baltimore shop takes ideas from concept to finished piece, and helps you understand what you already have.
4000 Buena Vista Ave. STE. 105, Baltimore, MD 21211.
Why
Built for the uncommon problem, the one without a ready answer.
The first meeting
A first meeting is for listening: what you have, what isn’t working, and what needs to come next.
Where to start →The studio
Where the work happens
Engineering, then the field
A B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Virginia, with a structural focus and a minor in architecture; the thesis was on carbon-fiber (CFRP) reinforcement of concrete beams. Then six years as a project engineer and project manager with a national restoration contractor, from Maryland to Southern California: estimating, scheduling, submittals and field crews.
A firm, then a shop
In 2013 he co-founded a specialty repair firm in Southern California and, as COO, grew it from five people to 25–35 in the field and 6–10 in the office: concrete repair, waterproofing, coatings, injection and flooring, with more than 400 parking-structure and deck restorations won. He sold his share in 2020, moved closer to family, and opened the Baltimore shop in 2021.
What the studio does now
Built-ins and furniture for houses, fabrications and art for the shop, design and fabrication alongside designers, architects and builders, and independent evaluation of buildings. The job costing and records behind it are built in-house, and that is what Office data offers other small firms. Precision from the engineering years; the piece still has to be worth living with.
Also
Digital work is a separate practice
It lives in its own house, kept apart from this one. This site is the Baltimore shop: furniture, built-ins, art and consulting. The way over is already on this page. It is a point of connection; look up and to the right.