Travel Journal

By LuAnne Silvia, ASID

My senior year in college I traveled for three weeks throughout Europe with a group of students studying architecture and design. We were required to keep a daily travel journal and our design professor encouraged us to record everything and include sketches. It is fun picking it up from time to time and reliving my adventures. I have kept a travel journal ever since.  

I enjoy reading and I love owning books; I love a great cover and cracking open a brand new book and breaking it in. The best part of being in a book club for me is the opportunity to travel in my mind to far away places. Whenever I travel, I pick up a book as a reminder of the trip and my time spent there. I love experiencing a sense of place through the built environment; discovering history and all the unique details that make up the character of a city.

My favorite way to absorb the sights and flavor of a place is to walk the streets and find the rhythm and pulse of the city. Surrounded by the architectural styles, colors and building materials I never quite leave a city, bringing that inspiration home with me.  Local artist and author David Coggins captures this yearning for discovery of place in his book, The Nostalgic Heart. It is a beautiful linen covered book with one of his travel photos on the cover. I keep it on my mantle. We had the opportunity to meet with him recently in his studio and view his 100 photo room of all the places he has been, amazing!