sanctuary

“Sanc­tu­ary is a state of mind,” says Kaydee Kre­it­low from behind a lat­te dur­ing a Sun­day after­noon rush at Archive Cof­fee & Bar.

“But the built envi­ron­ment can either encour­age or dis­cour­age that.”

Amid the bus­tle and noise of bused tables, the 34-year-old Salem res­i­dent and licensed archi­tect recalls a moment dur­ing her trav­els in Europe when she says she found her sanc­tu­ary, at an urban renew­al project in the Nether­lands called Silo­dam.

A for­mer run-down dam and silo in an indus­tri­al area, the site had been repur­posed and restored as for­ward-think­ing liv­ing spaces ris­ing direct­ly above the waters of the Ams­ter­dam har­bor. It was not a typ­i­cal place to find seren­i­ty, she says, but sit­ting alone there on a deck and tak­ing in the sights, some­thing moved her.

“I had this moment of pure joy and hap­pi­ness for being there in this spot,” she says. “There was nobody around, it was just me and the build­ing and the water.”

Knowl­edge of archi­tec­ture can help dis­cov­er sanc­tu­ary in non-tra­di­tion­al places in the built envi­ron­ment, accord­ing to Kre­it­low, and cre­ate it our­selves in our own sur­round­ings.

For Kre­it­low, who grad­u­at­ed from Pratt Insti­tute in 2006, archi­tec­ture has always been a pas­sion. Hav­ing grown up in a geo­des­ic dome in Beaver­ton, she has always had an eye for what’s pos­si­ble with cre­ative lay­out and design, she says. She jokes that when she trav­els, all her pho­tos are of build­ings.

“The way that I look at the world is dif­fer­ent from most peo­ple,” she says. “When I’m in a space, I appre­ci­ate the lay­out of the space, think­ing of how some­thing could have been done dif­fer­ent­ly.”

Accord­ing to Kre­it­low, archi­tec­ture has a unique abil­i­ty to influ­ence our sense of peace.

Dur­ing her trav­els, Kre­it­low spent a few months in Rome where she would wan­der the streets of the ancient city, using a famous Giambat­tista Nol­li engraved map from 1748 as a guide.

“Rome is a city of 500 church­es,” she says. “Almost from any street you’re in, you’re going to see anoth­er church.”

It was a pro­found expe­ri­ence, she says, sens­ing the seren­i­ty radi­at­ing out­ward from the foun­tains and ancient edi­fices.

From the streets of the Eter­nal City to a Salem alley­way, even to a sin­gle bath­room stall, says Kre­it­low, sanc­tu­ary can be made any­where.

“It’s going to be dif­fer­ent for every­one,” she says, but there are a few spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics all sanc­tu­ar­ies pos­sess.“Sanc­tu­ary is a time and a moment where you’re very much in the present.”

“You can get that in any city.”

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Speak­er: Kaydee Kre­it­low

Pro­fes­sion: Licensed archi­tect

Pet: How­land, Ger­man Shep­herd / Retriev­er mix

Hob­bies: Draw­ing, sewing, DIY

Favorite Movie: Robin Hood: Men in Tights — “If you’re watch­ing it and you’re not pay­ing atten­tion, you miss some of the humor. I like that.” Also Rata­touille.

Favorite Music: Alter­na­tive, tech­no and ambi­ent music, includ­ing the music of Eman­ci­pa­tor – “I’m the kind of per­son who needs back­ground music all the time. It helps me focus.”

Favorite Book: The Foun­tain­head, by Ayn Rand — “It reminds me to always do my best… I can sep­a­rate the ide­al­ism of Howard Roarke (the book’s pro­tag­o­nist) from the one-per­cent phi­los­o­phy.”

Favorite Meal: The roast­ed Whiskey Riv­er salmon and gar­lic mashed pota­toes at the Best Lit­tle Road­house in Salem

Favorite Drink: The moji­to by Giles at the Hos­tel Tevere in Ver­mont

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TEDxSalem V is an all-day event fea­tur­ing talks, per­for­mances, refresh­ments, lunch and a swag bag that takes place Sat­ur­day, Jan. 6, 2018, at the Salem Con­ven­tion Cen­ter. Pur­chase tick­ets here. Fol­low us on Face­book for the most up-to-date news from our com­mu­ni­ty, and check our web­site reg­u­lar­ly for new infor­ma­tion. You can also reach us at info@tedxsalem.com.