Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places

by Toby Israel

Book Overview

Both an accessible and fascinating title, this book reveals how our past experiences and psychological developments inform the choices we make today when selecting a place that we truly feel is our "home" It considers our "environmental autobiographies" and our psychological development in respect to urban experiences, focusing on the personal stories of Charles Jencks, Michael Graves and Andres Duany, three of the most prominent figures of our time...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470849509
• ISBN13: 9780470849507
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Academy Press
• Length: 252 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A Solid Book-inspiring and well written

"Some Place Like Home" is a groundbreaking book for the field of Design Psychology. As an Interior Design student I realize that my study is constantly subordinate to the field of Environmental Psychology and the two are interrelated. Dr. Israel is a pioneer of this field and I would recommend her work to anyone wanting to further their understanding of this discipline. She is dead on when she states, " The idea of environmental autobiography has been around for a long time, so has environmental psychology. Unfortunately these ideas have not been effectively communicated to the public at large, or to architects. Perhaps this book will help convince people that there is a powerful connection between past, present and future sense of home and place and that this connection can be explored through...Design Psychology."

"must read" for any interior designer and/or architect

A great book, very easy reading but also very inspirational in the sense that you are handed very usable tools for communication with (potential) clients. A logical thaught-process which needed to be put to paper: how to create a design which is not only great, but also gives te person who has to live there a sense of home!

One of the best design tools out there.

This book is wonderfully written and easily understood by those directly and indirectly involved with interior design and architecture. The author, Toby Israel, leads you through her pioneering ideas behind design psychology with an interesting format that includes narration, interviews and exercises. You'll discover how your own past history of place - where you grew up, the type of home you lived in and even where you went to school - can affect choices you make regarding dwellings and workplaces now and in your future.The exercises throughout the book help readers uncover influences from their past and can help them create successful environments for themselves or for clients. This book is a must have for anyone seeking to create satisfying designs with tools we inherently possess but too often ignore.