Curriculum Vitae

Christopher K. Travis

Pine, Colorado

References and expanded project list available upon request.

Award-winning architectural designer-builder, writer, and theorist with 45 + years of experience creating high-end custom and historic residences. Founder & Managing Partner of Truehome Design-Build and originator of the Truehome Workshop, a science-based programming system that tailors dwellings to the psychological needs of their occupants (in continuous use with clients since 1998). Nationally and internationally published, known for Autopoietic Architecture, an interdisciplinary approach that merges cognitive science, human-factors research, and design to produce healing homes.

Core Expertise

  • Human-centered residential design & construction
  • Historic restoration & adaptive re-use of period structures
  • Psychological programming & user-experience methods for housing (Truehome Workshop)
  • Design-build project leadership & budget management
  • Writing, public speaking & curriculum development in design psychology

Professional Experience

Years Role & Organization Key Achievements
2013-Present Founder, Managing Partner & Lead Designer
Truehome Design.Build, Pine CO (relocated from TX)		 All projects delivered through the 12-step Truehome Workshop, reducing design revisions and cutting production cost by 35 % compared with conventional programming
Leads multidisciplinary teams blending architecture with well-being professionals to create “Healing Homes”
Designed / built award-winning custom homes, restorations, and recycled-cabin compounds across South-Central Texas and Austin
1995-2013 Principal Architect & Builder
Sentient Architecture, LLC, TX		 Earned T.C. Jester Award for excellence in historic design (Houston Heights) and wide press coverage (New York Times, Builder Magazine, Country Living, etc.)
1970s-1994 Design-Build Contractor & Restorer
(various companies)		 Named Remodeler of the Year by the Greater Houston Builders Association (1981)
1995-2008 Founder/Publisher/Editor
Round Top Register (regional quarterly)		 Early digital-first rural paper; named one of the Top 10 Texas Media Websites by Texas Monthly; lauded by NY Times as “the Garrison Keillor of the Lone Star State”
1980s Co-founder
Tour de YEH (Youth Ending Hunger)		 Led 68-nation transcontinental bicycle event culminating at the Goodwill Games to raise awareness of hunger and homelessness

Selected Awards & Honors

  • T.C. Jester Award for Historic Design, Houston Heights

  • Remodeler of the Year, Greater Houston Builders Association, 1981

  • Featured as a “leading innovator in global architecture,” Hommes (Greece)

  • On-screen contributor, PBS documentary Digital Nation

Publications & Media

  • Peer-Reviewed Publication:

  • Books:

    • Author, The Truehome Workshop: A Systematic Approach to Creating a Healing Home that Fits the True You © 2024
  • Media & Speaking:

    • Features in The New York Times, Builder, Country Living, Texas Highways, PBS Digital Nation, and international outlets
    • Presentations at Microsoft, Google, University of Texas at Austin, and industry conferences
    • Podcast and radio interviews on architectural psychology and human-centered design

Community & Volunteer Leadership

  • Co-founder, Round Top Family Library | Smallest Texas town with a full-service public library (Round Top, pop. 81)

  • Mentor & advocate, Tour de YEH | Youth environmental initiatives and hunger-relief programs

Professional Affiliations

  • Founder, Autopoietic Architecture methodology

  • Member, National Trust for Historic Preservation (TX & CO chapters)