With four decades of groundbreaking design; architect, author, professor, and philosopher Travis Price lectures on modern architecture informed by ecology and mythology, architecture that restores the spirit of place to modern design. His lecture and his works demonstrate the reality of his quest to achieve an evolutionary architectural language for a 21st Century Design Renaissance. Price presents a compelling odyssey of architecture in distant landscapes built by extraordinary cultures highlighting mankind’s greatest sacred buildings.
Price’s design-build expeditions with graduate students construct a myriad of cultural legacy markers around the world in an astonishing 9 days. The projects span the globe consisting of metaphysical sweat lodges in British Columbia, a floating house on the Amazon in Peru, a star-gazing temple at Machu Picchu, a Snake Shrine in Nepal, and pre-Celtic sacred retreats in western Ireland. These design-build expeditions tap our deepest histories. They stir the spirit with a modern temple on Pantelleria Island, Italy, dedicated to Venus on the lake where Circe laid with Odysseus, or a shamanic haven of the Finnish Kalevala epic to the great gathering of St Patrick’s mysticism in western Ireland near Crough Patrick.
Price is an applauded international lecturer at Universities, Schools of architecture, environmental forums, the American Institute of Architects – AIA, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Society, Apple Headquarters, and numerous corporate and association events. Price is regularly featured in films, international conferences, radio, and television programs. A new documentary, The Tale of the Tongs, on Spirit of Place recently premiered at the Environmental Film Festival Spring 2014 in Washington DC.
Author:
Guided by a humanist-based perspective and desire for ecological sustainability that honors both nature and culture, his book won the gold medal in 2007 for independent publishers in architecture.
The Archaeology of Tomorrow : Architecture and the Spirit of Place (2007)
The Mythic Modern: Architectural Expeditions into the Spirit of Place (2011)
http://www.archdaily.com/483619/travis-price-s-spirit-of-place-the-antidote-to-sprawl-mall-and-tall/
http://vimeo.com/102775287
Tale of the Tongs – Trailer – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzTDMQCHaQ0
Commentary:
Says Antoine Predock, AIA Gold Medalist, “The assaults on the spirit of present architectural trends are remedied by Price’s inspired architecture, which resuscitates landscape and cultural metaphor in original modernist works.”
“In his quest for the mythic,” writes author and National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis, “what Price really seeks is the perfection of the authentic. His goal is not to reinvent the architectural past, but to implement the essential elements of what make for greatness in any age.”
Education and Personal:
Travis’ education, like his work, spans philosophy and architecture. He holds both a B.A. in Western Philosophy and Political Economics from St. John’s College (the Great Books School). He was honored as Alumni of the Year in 1996, the 300th anniversary of the Annapolis campus. As well he holds a combined Masters of Architecture from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA and The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM. He was honored as the Distinguished Alumnae Award at UNM 2009. He was also honored as a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for his trailblazing visions.
Price is a registered architect with NCARB and is registered in 10 states including New York and the District of Columbia. Born in Augusta, Georgia, and a father of two children, Travis lives in Washington, DC, while working with clients locally and around the world. He is an avid Aikido practitioner and has four black belts.
Acclamations / Awards:
Nominated for National AIA Gold Medal – 2020
National Geographic Expert
7 Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art, & Architecture National AIA Award
DCAIA Design Awards: 1993, 2008, 2010, 2012 , 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018
NCARB – Prize 2010 for Practice and Education
6 IFFRA National AIA Awards
Progressive Architecture Design Award: 1976, 1977
Member of the Prestigious Kalevala Society, Finland
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, FAIA
Contributing Editor National Geographic TRAVELER
Alumnae of the Year University of New Mexico 2009
Alumnae of the Year St John’s College 1996
Websites:
www.SpiritofPlace-Design.com
www.TravisPriceArchitects.com
www.ArchaeologyofTomorrow.com
Email: info(at)SpiritofPlace-Design(dot)com