How do buildings make you feel?

A film portrait of architect Christopher Alexander asks the question

Places for the Soul, Ruth Landy

Have you ever wondered why some places lift your spirits while others bring you down? Or considered how the built environment around you affects your feelings in the everyday?

I’ve obsessed over these questions for as long as I can remember. That’s what led me to make a film about Christopher Alexander — a quest for answers.

Places for the Soul is my half-hour intimate portrait of Alexander at work on two major commissions in Japan and California. It’s available for the first time in a digital restoration from the Video Project and streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Here’s the backstory about an architect and thinker whose maverick approach continues to inspire reverence – and controversy.