Born in 1959 in Memphis Tennessee, Kristine Woolsey moved 23 times before her family settled in a small town outside of Boston where she went to high school. Her first architectural degree was received from the Georgia Institute of Technology and her Masters of Architecture from Arizona State University. She won numerous design awards prior to graduation and was offered a faculty position at ASU upon graduation.
As a member of the faculty for 12 years, Kristine’s area of research was the impact of the physical environment on human behavior. She conducted studies, wrote papers, landed grants, and lectured from coast to coast. Her work in the area of movement design resulted in several guest teaching positions including the prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture.
Subsequently, Woolsey launched her own architectural practice in order to provide real world testing of her ideas about the connections between design of experience, human behavior, and real outcome. Her work was recognized over 50 times. It was published in local and national magazines, featured on HGTV, included in home tours, public lectures, and other avenues of acclaim. She has had a number of national clients and ended up being registered as an architect in 21 states in order to serve their needs.
In launching her practice, Woolsey not only had to prove her design theories but also run a business. Her company expanded its offerings to include architecture, interior design, furniture specification, and construction. At its largest she had a staff of 28 making her company among the largest architectural firms in the southwest (and the largest woman owned).
Her pursuit of excellence extended into business and management. Serendipity put her at a conference table one morning a month for 15 years with a group of successful CEO’s, local, national, global, and fortune 1000 CEO’s. They talked about business strategy, employees, and leadership. She listened as an architect and began applying her research in experience and behavior to business strategy. Her professional work at that point took on a new area of expertise, the use of design as strategy to achieve behavioral results for business clients. Because these business results were financial and could be measured, they were the real proof of the science of behavioral design.
Today Kristine’s work has several components. She lectures and leads workshops on the powerful impact of the physical environment on our personal and business lives. She provides consulting services and design direction for projects of all sizes and types. She is the architect and interior designer for offices, restaurants, cross-cultural work, and residential projects, anywhere that experience and behavior are the main drivers. She is one of the country’s experts on the impact of technology on the changing workplace because that change is being managed by designing for behavior. Today, Kristine’s office staff is very small, just enough to support her focus these areas. She continues to pursue the science of behavioral design and to take on those projects where experience matters.