Exploring Ecology Modernism, Storytelling, and The Design Philosophy of Architect Travis L. Price
We sat down with architect Travis Price at his iconic home in Forest Hills, Washington, D.C., to delve into his design philosophy and how it shapes his work with new clients. He reflected on the spirit of his own home, sharing a powerful moment when he recited a poem before the Commission of Fine Arts - an homage to a sacred tree in Bhaktapur, Nepal.
Travis's personal home in the Forest Hills neighborhood is both his residence and his thesis. By blending environmentally responsive siting, natural materials, transparency, and poetic symbolism, he demonstrates how modern architecture can honor its context, embrace beauty, and serve everyday life. It’s an embodiment of his belief that buildings should be living art - ecological, experiential, and deeply connected to their place.
Suspended above a hillside overlooking Rock Creek Park, the house hangs from steel columns, never touching the ground. The home intentionally preserves the natural topography, allowing the architecture to coexist with the mature oak and birch trees that surround it. Natural materials like patinated copper, stone, and wood echo the woodland palette, reinforcing the seamless connection between structure and setting. A wall of floor-to-ceiling glass transforms the forest into a living backdrop, while the home’s cascading volumes and open layout let light flow freely, creating an immersive, treetop experience.
Rooted in what Price calls “organic modernism,” the home balances modern design with warmth and livability, featuring inviting elements like a fireplace, spiral staircase, and intimate, thoughtfully scaled spaces. Symbolically, the house is conceived as a “floating abstraction of a tree,” with a bridge entry and cantilevered forms that evoke movement and transcendence. It’s a poetic and purposeful expression of architecture that honors place, ecology, and the mythic resonance of home.
When working with clients, Travis Price Architects takes a deeply personal and narrative-driven approach. They begin by eliciting their client’s own story, asking open-ended questions and listening attentively to their cultural background, values, and aesthetic preferences, while uncovering their poetic impulses and emotional vision. Their process emphasizes ecological sensitivity, integrating sustainability seamlessly into elegant, modern design. With a small, collaborative team and in-house construction, they maintain close client relationships and guide projects from concept to completion. The result is architecture that is not only environmentally responsible and contextually responsive but deeply meaningful to those who inhabit it.
In short, clients aren’t given architecture - they discover it through their own story, refracted through Travis Price’s narrative-rich, eco-conscious modernism.
Each work from Travis Price Architects speaks to the heart of the built environment’s natural and human stewardship. Guided by a humanities-based perspective with a passion for sustaining nature and culture, their quest for the mythic modern inspires a reinvigorated architecture of the 21st Century and creates an enduring archeology of tomorrow.
At listModern, we have been lucky enough to represent a variety of homes in the region designed by Travis Price, while even featuring a few of them, including his own home, on the DC Metro Modern Home Tour, where he has graciously interacted with guests as a speaker and host.
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Architect Spotlight: Travis Price, FAIA
