ABOUT TRUEHOME

In 1992, Christopher K. Travis experienced a profound insight about his personal experience of home. A designer and builder, he was restoring a large compound of historic buildings many hours from his home. He was at a low point in his career and missed his family.

His circumstances gave him every reason to feel downcast and alone.
But in the evenings after work, he sat on the high pier-and-beam porch of one of those old farmhouses playing his guitar and noticed he was feeling inexplicably happy and at peace. He began to wonder why and was struck by a vivid memory from his early childhood.

He suddenly saw that the architecture of that porch reminded him of another old farmhouse which existing only in his subconscious memory. Forty years before, during another difficult time in his life, Christopher had lived on the farm of his great-grandparents. He realized his brain had associated the architecture of his current project with another similar porch from his childhood. A flood of positive feelings about being loved, safe and appreciated was the result.

If powerful emotional states were cued by memories of experiences in past environments, he realized, they must be influencing his emotional response to every place he visited, even though he was entirely unaware it was happening. He saw the same would be true for his clients.

Travis realized that if that powerful emotional state was cued by memories of experiences in past environments, the same type of associations were likely influencing his emotional reactions to every place he visited, even though he was entirely unaware it was happening. He saw the same would be true for his clients.

He began to apply that insight to his client relationships, and it changed everything about how he designed and built homes.

In 1998, he created an early form of the Truehome Workshop. His goal was to develop a systematic approach to gathering design criteria for living spaces that supported the wellbeing of his clients.He offered it to his customers and many of them agreed to try it.

The Workshop asked questions that were psychological in nature and designed to identify what he called the "emotional architecture" of his clients - esentially how their brain reacted to home environments. He sought the details of the experience of home in their heads and hearts, not just the physical "bricks and sticks" of a building.

After using the process for two years, he began to notice a radical difference in the outcomes of clients who used his Workshop to develop design criteria as compared to those who preferred traditional methods. He began to study those two sets of clients and the outcomes of their projects.

He was shocked to find that every first-round design presentation he had made to those early Truehome clients had been accepted. (Ultimately this record extended with only one exception for almost four years.) Clients whose projects were complete reported they found their homes unusually fitting to their lifestyle and priorities.

More importantly, their emotional experience in those homes matched their goals. He had stumbled upon a way to predicatably create designs that helped people feel the emotions they wanted to feel in their homes.

The approach also transformed Travis' client relationships. His change in focus created a new level of trust, intimacy and partnership with every client. The time he spent coming to understand his clients deeper goals also turned out to good for his business. His design production costs dropped 35% on average for Truehome clients as compared with those who preferred traditional methods..

Travis realized he had stumbled upon something important and began a passionate five-year multi-disciplinary study trying to understand why his process worked. Many of the books he studied are included in our Reading List. Using his architecture and building practice as a lab, he began to expand the scope of the Truehome Workshop.

In 2002, he brought two wellbeing professionals with greater expertise onto his team during design development. One was a clinical psychologist and the other a family therapist. He found that he could compensate them for supporting his clients, which profoundly impacted their experience in a positive way, and still produce designs that pleased his clients for less time and money.

The Workshop then caught the caught the attention of several academic experts in the fields of psychology. Dr. Cecil Reynolds, an internationaly known neuropsychologist, author and expert in psychological testing, endorsed the process in 2005. Dr. Reynolds later became an advisor and investor in the company.

Travis' youngest son, Benjamin Travis, an IT and software wunderkind who had been paying attention to these developments, approached his father in 2006 and suggested they turn the process into software. They filed a patent for their software and set to work.

Soon afterwards, Dr. Sam Gosling, a noted personality scientist and 2008 recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology became familiar with Travis' work. Gosling had long been researching how personality was expressed in living spaces. He interviewed Travis' clients and was so impressed he devoted much of the last chapter of his book, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You to Travis's work. Eventually, he too became an investor and advisor in Truehome..

Three months after Dr. Gosling's book was published, The New York Times published a two-page article on Travis and Truehome. It was followed by a string of international media including major articles in Greece, Germany and Australia.

It took several years for the the father and son to create the web based software and social network. They designed it to help people explore their ideas and experiences because they believe each person's experience of home is a unique "fingerprint". In 2011, an early market version of Truehome was announced, culminating over a decade of devotion to the possibility of creating homes that heal their inhabitants.

Travis remains passionate about this pursuit and sees Truehome as both a business and a community project.whose purpose is to bring people together who share a similar vision.

"I know it is possible to create a personal environment that supports your wellbeing and the life you want to live" says Travis. "I know because I have done it myself, and with my own clients. If we can tailor living spaces to individuals and families in a way that improves their wellbeing and life experience, then if must be done. It is an ethical issue as well as an environmental priority.

"Right now, we are degrading our planet with the ways we design, build and develop. We are also degrading our quality of life. If we don’t make creating homes that enhance the wellbeing of our own children a priority, what chance is there we will be good stewards of our planet and the homes of species who share it with us?

"The biggest hurdles are not technological or political. They are cultural and psychological. Our built environment influences our behavior in powerful ways. Our homes truly are in our heads, in our perception of the world that surrounds us. Human behavior must change if we are to save our planet. Focusing on creating psychologically fitting living and works spaces can transform our relationship with our personal environments – and that is a critical step towards transforming our relationship with our home planet.

"There are many others out there who share a vision of a greener, more sustainable built environment. There are many searching for new ways create living spaces that improve the experience of being human and the wellbeing of the planet. People must join together, share their ideas and raise their voices to accomplish that possibility.

"Truehome can't make that happen alone, but we can plant the seeds. We've created an online platform where people can share their insights and solutions for creating a life, a home and a world that empowers wellbeing. We think that's a great conversation to have.

"Our goal is to amplify their voices and promote their ideas in hopes of expanding the work we have done at Truehome."