The Spiral House: Revealing the Sacred in Everyday Life

Why was an artist with no architectural experience inspired to design and build a five-story spiral house made of stone? Can a home designed as sacred architecture be a comfortable place to live in the 21st century? How does living in a sacred space support one's path to awakening? These questions are answered in the story of artist Tom Gottsleben and his wife, Patty Livingston, who spent 20 years exploring what it means to build and live in a home designed as sacred space. This inspiring and informative book tells of Tom's years exploring stone sculpture and landscaping walls, his lifelong spiritual practice, accidental discovery of sacred geometry, and how Patty's pragmatic nature grounded the project in the practicalities of a comfortable home. Although this is the personal story of one couple's journey and their beautiful home and joyful approach to life, its purpose is to attune readers to seeing and creating sacred space in their own lives.

Artist Tom Gottsleben and his wife, Patty Livingston, have lived in the Hudson River Valley for more than three decades. Tom's stone and crystal sculptures create an experience of the harmony and beauty inherent in nature's patterns. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY), Art Omni International (Ghent, NY), and the Museum at Bethel Woods (Bethel, NY); and in group shows at the annual Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood (Stockbridge, MA) and the New York Botanical Garden (Bronx, NY). His work is also in numerous private collections and is represented by the Elena Zang Gallery, Shady (Woodstock, NY). Together, Tom and Patty, an artist and designer in her own right, created the Spiral House and gardens that are the subject of this book. Ronnie Shushan is a writer, editor, and graphic designer. She was a book editor at Doubleday, the editor of Games magazine, created a series of Games magazine books (Workman publishing), co-authored a bestselling graphic design primer for electronic publishing (Microsoft Press). Other magazine credits include curating the art gallery section for Spirituality & Health magazine. Mick Hales is one of the pre-eminent photographers of houses,, gardens and interiors working today on projects with architects, interior designers, landscape architects, gardeners, and homeowners. His work has been published in many magazines (House Beautiful, Vanity Fair, Town and Country, Fine Gardening among many others) and he has published dozens of lifestyle coffee table books, including most recently New York Living: Re-inventing Home (Rizzoli), Living Newport (Glitterati), and the forthcoming City Green.