The Personal Ads of Home Design
It’s officially 2009 – time for fresh ideas and new approaches. In that trail-blazing vein, we were thrilled to discover architectural designer Christopher K. Travis’ clever twist on home design: “emotional architecture.”
Christopher Travis/ Photograph from The New York Times
Travis’ work has not gone unnoticed. He was profiled in The New York Times last year, and the designer has also racked up the testimonials from both architects and psychologists, touting his innovative development in architectural planning and design.
Travis’ methods bring new meaning to the phrase “intelligent design.” The principal of (aptly named) Sentient Architecture in central Texas is developing software called Truehome that contains an exhaustive emotional and aesthetic survey to help clients pinpoint their design preferences.
The tower of this home is a nod to the owner’s childhood, spent in a Connecticut lighthouse. Photograph from The New York Times
Travis designed one home with a tower for a man who had happy memories of growing up in a lighthouse. He designed an open-air kitchen for a woman who grew up in a big family with chaotic (in a bad way) mealtimes.
Think of the Truehome workshop as part design studio, part therapy session. Through a series of emotionally and psychologically-driven queries and exercises, it analyzes virtually every aspect of your life, and – voila! – generates the design you were destined for. (Now if only it were that easy on Match.com…)
The Truehome software is still in the development stages, but you can follow the progress on Travis’ blog, Architecture of Life, which recently noted that he is planning several seminars on his concept in the first quarter of 2009.
Here’s to a productive new, design-filled year.
Thanks Libby,
I very much appreciate your kind words. It is nice to hear encouragement for “human centered” design.
Just for your readers, here are a few more links to articles about what we are doing. Again, thank you for your support for our “atypical” design process.
With respect,
Christopher K. Travis
Go Magazine - http://airtranmagazine.com/contents/2008/11/home-is-where-the-heart-is/
Story on lecture at Texas A & M architecture school - http://archone.tamu.edu/college/news/newsletters/fall2008/stories/architect_programming.html
Sam Gosling’s book - Snoop, What Your Stuff Says About You (The last chapter is about our work. http://architecture-of-life.blogspot.com/2008/05/snoop-what-your-stuff-says-about-you.html
How great to hear from the man himself! I hope everyone will read the articles – thanks. – Jennifer Sergent/ Washington Spaces