In this episode, Lyssia sits down with architect, leadership coach, and best-selling author Diane Van Buren to explore what Rome can teach us about beauty, architecture, and the way we live today. Drawing from her years living in Rome and her background in architecture, Diane looks at why the city’s piazzas, fountains, public spaces, and handcrafted details still feel so powerful centuries later.

The conversation explores what the Romans understood about human scale, belonging, beauty, and civic life. Diane explains why piazzas act as “people magnets,” why pedestrian spaces can feel more restorative, and why public beauty can do more than simply decorate a city. She also talks about the way Roman architecture communicated permanence, power, luxury, and identity, and why those ideas still shape how we experience buildings today.

They take the conversation deeper into some of Rome’s most enduring design lessons, including the Pantheon and the engineering behind its unreinforced concrete dome. Diane explains how Roman concrete was designed to strengthen over time and why the craftsmanship, proportion, and durability of ancient buildings continue to stand in such sharp contrast to much of what we build now.

Lyssia and Diane also explore what may have been lost along the way. From the decline of ornamentation and handmade detail to the rise of car-centered cities, repetitive materials, and buildings designed around speed and efficiency, they look at how modern spaces can become disconnected from the people who actually use them.

The conversation also moves into fountains, sculpture, public art, craftsmanship, city squares, and the role beauty can play in everyday life. Diane explains why spending time in thoughtful public spaces can create room to slow down, observe, process, and reconnect, and why beauty does not have to be grand or expensive to have an impact.

By the end of this episode, you may start looking at the places around you differently and asking a bigger question: if Rome got so much right about how people gather, move, and experience beauty, what have we forgotten about how to build?

More Room to Think:

Diane Van Buren
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurel-diane-van-buren-14698315/
Website: https://thrivingvisionaries.com/

Room to Think
https://roomtothinkpodcast.com/

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In this episode, Lyssia sits down with Elizabeth and Rich Landry, the husband-and-wife team behind Kensington Design House, to explore what may be hiding beneath the surface of a beautiful home. Bringing together Elizabeth’s background in psychology and science-informed design with Rich’s architectural perspective, they look at the ways our homes can quietly affect our health, stress levels, habits, and everyday lives.

The conversation explores why a home can look beautiful and still work against you. Elizabeth and Rich explain how clutter, poor lighting, awkward layouts, lack of connection to nature, and everyday points of friction can shape the way we feel without us always realizing why. They also discuss the idea that we often adapt ourselves to our homes instead of asking whether our homes should be adapting to us.

They take the conversation deeper into some of the parts of the home we rarely think about, including indoor air quality and HVAC systems. Rich explains why the air moving through most residential HVAC systems is largely recirculated rather than fresh outdoor air, why filters need more attention than many homeowners realize, and how poor ventilation, humidity, pollutants, and improper maintenance can create problems that may be completely invisible.

Elizabeth and Rich also break down their Home Environment Study, which looks beyond aesthetics to evaluate how a space is actually performing. From lighting levels and air quality to circulation, comfort, clutter, and emotional response, they explain why understanding what is happening in a home can help uncover problems we may have simply learned to live with.

The conversation also moves into biophilic design, texture, materials, natural light, aging in place, and the small changes that can make a home feel dramatically different without requiring a full renovation. Sometimes the answer is not more square footage or more furniture, but a better layout, fewer obstacles, more intentional light, or simply paying attention to where friction shows up in your daily routine.

By the end of this episode, you may start looking past how your home appears and paying closer attention to how it actually makes you feel, function, and live.

More Room to Think:

Kensington Design House
Website: https://www.kensingtondesignhouse.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kensington.designhouse

Room to Think
https://roomtothinkpodcast.com/

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In this episode, Lyssia sits down with Julian Treasure, leading expert on sound, communication, and the power of listening, to explore something most of us rarely think about: how the sounds around us shape the way we feel, focus, communicate, and live.

Julian explains why sound deserves just as much attention in design as color, texture, lighting, and layout. We may stop consciously noticing the hum of an HVAC system, traffic outside the window, or conversations happening around us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean our brains have stopped processing them. He breaks down why the human voice is one of the most distracting sounds, why open-plan offices can make it harder to concentrate, and why the spaces we spend our time in are often designed for the eyes while largely ignoring the ears.

The conversation also explores the hidden effects of living in an increasingly noisy world. Julian discusses how noise can affect sleep, stress, productivity, hearing, and health, and why restaurants, offices, schools, and even our homes can become louder than we realize. They also discuss whether noise-canceling headphones are really a solution, why natural sounds like birdsong can help create a better environment, and what architects and designers can do to make spaces more acoustically comfortable.

Most importantly, this episode offers a practical way to start listening to your own space. Julian shares a simple exercise for evaluating any room by asking three questions: Is it healthy? Is it helpful? And does it make me happy? From quieter appliances and better acoustic treatments to curtains, ceilings, and the sounds we choose to surround ourselves with, small changes can completely shift the experience of a room.

Because sometimes the biggest problem in a space isn’t what you see. It’s what you hear.

More Room to Think:

Julian Treasure
Website: https://www.juliantreasure.com/
Communication Skills Assessment: https://studio.com/apps/juliantreasure/mcc?ref=juliantreasure&code=a
The Listening Society: https://www.thelisteningsociety.community/

Room to Think
https://roomtothinkpodcast.com/

Loved this episode? Let us know!

Subscribe to Room to Think

If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share it with someone who would appreciate a more thoughtful approach to their space. New episodes every week. Build a better life by design.

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