ROUND TOP'S HIGH TECH HOME DESIGNER MAKES NEW YORK TIMES
July 28, 2008

Most big ideas don't start in a rocking chair, but this one did - and the result wound up as a major story in The New York Times recently. The idea, hatched in 1992 on the front porch of an historic restoration in Round Top, Texas, has grown into a new approach to creating living spaces and includes a web-based implementation tool called Truehome®

The Times wrote that Truehome "…will do for the design and building profession what eHarmony has done for matchmaking."

The imagination behind the idea is Chris Travis, who jokes about turning tiny Round Top (population 77) into a "small town Silicon Valley." According to Travis, the idea of creating a living space that meets needs and wants is not new. However, no one has previously developed scientific tools for realizing the goal wherein a living space can actually help shape a person's life.

Travis and his architecture firm are making that dream a possibility for everyone with their new website at Truehome.net. Travis' clients claim he has actually been delivering that result for years for Houstonians with homes in rural South Central Texas.

His architecture firm, Sentient Architecture, has offices in Round Top and in Austin. And Truehome is a family affair with son Ben Travis of Denver, a computer programmer and systems engineer, developing the proprietary software that makes Truehome work on the web. Another son, Shiloh Travis, translates the psychometrics that Truehome elicits, through his high-end construction company, Texas Country Homes of Austin and Round Top.

As other design/build teams do, Sentient Architecture and Texas Country Homes create living environments that match the tastes, goals, and budgets of their clients. But, unique to them, at least thus far, is their use of the Truehome process to help clients understand important subconscious and emotional needs they might not realize they have when they begin their projects.

After seven years of successfully working with clients using an evolving manual version of his Truehome Workshop, Truehome.net went live on the Internet.

"We are still developing the website," says Travis. "The manual version of the Truehome Workshop is available for download, but other online products are not up yet. We expect to launch them by the end of the year. The software that allows us to create them has been finished since August of 2007, so we are pretty far along. We are creating something here that has never been done before - building online testing products that help people design homes that fit who they are and there are myriad ways these products can be used by professionals and consumers."

For example, Truehome products will allow consumers, Realtors, contractors, interior designers, architects and therapists (or any appropriate combination) to uncover the details of what "home" really means to each individual and family. It also helps people identify materials, products and professionals that match their needs, and allows them to share ideas and information with others when buying, designing, remodeling, redecorating and building, or simply dreaming about their perfect home.

Travis' methods have been endorsed by many experts and academics. Cecil Reynolds Ph.D., and Professor Emeritus at A & M who has developed some of the most widely used psychological testing tools in the United States serves on the Truehome's Advisory Board.

The idea so impressed Sam Gosling, Ph.D. (winner of the 2008 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association) that he devoted the last chapter of his new book, Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You (Basic Books, June 2008), to Chris Travis and his Truehome project. Gosling has appeared on ABC's Nightline, USA Today, on PBS' Talk of the Nation. His research is also featured in Malcolm Gladwell's book, Blink.

According to Gosling, "I have been particularly impressed by how Truehome was built with sophisticated psychological theory at its core to create a set of exercises that are engaging and intuitive without sacrificing rigor or depth. I believe that Truehome, more so than any conventional design process, will help clients create spaces that match their personalities, ultimately resulting in happier, healthier lives."

To contact Chris Travis:
E-mail - cktravis@sentientarchitecture.com or customersupport@truehome.net
Phone - 979-249-5961 or 979-249-5550



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