A Sense of Home

A Home Environment Study by Kensington Design House aims to understand how light, sound, layout, air quality, and other unseen elements of a home can affect how we feel and live, and how that translates into design and architectural decisions.

Written by Josh Walker | Photograph by Golden Photos CHS

Sometimes there’s nothing obviously wrong with a room. The one-of-a-kind furniture sparks conversations, the colors tell a cohesive story, and the pendants and sconces are positively luxe. And yet, for some reason, something doesn’t feel right.

Rich and Elizabeth Landry of Kensington Design House believe that feeling is worth paying attention to. Their new Home Environment Study takes a psychological and architectural approach to understanding how people experience their homes, looking beyond what a space looks like to examine what it may be asking of the people who actually live there every day.

The idea starts with a relatively simple premise: Our surroundings constantly provide our brains with information, much of it without our conscious awareness. A noisy room can make it difficult to settle. Poor circulation can turn an ordinary morning routine into a series of small frustrations; lack of privacy can leave us feeling uneasy or guarded; and visual clutter can make our senses buzz and ultimately crash out.

“The built environment is never neutral,” the Landrys explain. A home can look finished and still feel unresolved.

Looking for the Friction

Rather than beginning with paint colors, furniture, or finishes, the Home Environment Study begins with how someone actually lives.

Kensington Design House studies a home’s floor plan alongside the occupants’ routines, considering circulation, privacy, acoustics, visual complexity, access to nature, adaptability, and the way different spaces are used throughout the day. The goal is to identify points of friction homeowners may experience regularly without necessarily recognizing their source.

Sometimes, for example, the problem isn’t that a room needs to be redesigned. “Sometimes the problem isn’t your paint color; it’s the lighting,” Rich explained. “Sometimes it isn’t your style; it’s the circulation.” That distinction can lead to much more practical—and affordable—solutions.

Measuring What You Can’t Always See

The team also takes measurements related to indoor air quality, including pollutants and off-gassing chemicals, as well as water quality, lighting levels, humidity, HVAC performance, and thermal comfort. They consider lighting specifically in relation to the body’s circadian rhythms, while acoustics, temperature, and air quality provide another layer of information about how a home promotes or disrupts comfort and safety.

Both Rich and Elizabeth describe the assessment as a “foundational design tool.” It’s a way to better understand the home before deciding what, if anything, should change. Ultimately, the question shifts from “How can we make this room look better?” to “How could this home better support the people who live here, and look good doing it?”

Kensington Design House is currently looking for a small number of Charleston-area homeowners to participate in the initial pilot of the Home Environment Study, particularly people who sense that something about their home isn’t quite working—even if they haven’t been able to put their finger on why. For more information, visit kensingtondesignhouse.com or contact elizlandry@kensingtondesignhouse.com.