"Emotional architecture" In Greece

A while back I was approached by the Lifestyle editor of a stylish men's magazine from Greece called Homme, a charming lady by the name of Mickaela Theofilou.

She had seen the article about me and my architecture firm in the New York Times.

She was interested in our approach and the website we are building at Truehome.net that uses psychological testing and lifestyle analysis to help people and professionals create homes that fit individuals and families.

Mickaela explained that they were planning a special issue to be published on September 26th that would focus on the home, architecture and interior design.

I accepted the interview of course but since I didn't know anything about her magazine, I googled it and came to the website of Vogue Hommes International and blogged about it. As it turns out, Hommes is not the same magazine as Homme.

Whoops! I was wondering what a magazine that showed bare chested male models in studs and leather wanted with me. The magazine that published my interview is associated with a large weekly newspaper called Imerisia in Athens and is distributed primarily in Greece.

The article was very flattering, listing me with other "trendmakers" in architecture. But here is the other funny part. When asking for the interview she referred to me as the "new king of architecture." I am not sure how Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers and Jean Nouvel would feel about that characterization. I doubt many of the "star" moderist architects would appreciate the coronation of a designer who puts the feelings of people before the "concepts" in the head of the architect.

But happily, there are voices out there like Christopher Alexander, Nikos Saligoros and others - who though I doubt would consider me the king of design - would at least support buildings that make you feel good when you inhabit them.

Now all I have to do is learn how to read in Greek! Google's translation was a bit difficult to understand.