What would it look like if your architect understood not just how you live, but who you are at your deepest level, and designed your home from that place outward? In this episode, guest host Zara D’Cotta sits down with Jo Gillies, registered architect, director, and founder of Archisoul Architects, for one of the most expansive and genuinely surprising conversations this podcast has had on the intersection of architecture, health, and the human spirit.

Jo’s path into this work runs through Guillain-Barré syndrome at twenty-five, a long journey of questioning what we put into our bodies and our buildings, and decades of sacred retreats across Africa and Peru that have shaped a design philosophy unlike anything you will hear from a conventional architect.

Together, Zara and Jo explore what sacred intention in architecture actually means in practice, how Jo uses the five love languages and the DISC personality profile to draw out what a client truly needs from their home, and why sacred geometry is inert until you activate it through intention.

They also get into Jo’s project in Costa Rica called The Vessyl, a copper dome sound healing space in the jungle where passive house technology was applied to achieve a stable ambient temperature year-round despite the humidity and a nearby volcano, and what early contractor involvement actually looks like when a building team is genuinely working together from the start.

Jo also speaks about why she refers building biologists as essential consultants on her projects rather than trying to carry that knowledge herself, and what she tells homeowners who are nervous about asking hard questions when interviewing an architect. This one covers a lot of ground and all of it is worth your time.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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Zara D'Cotta is a Building Biology New Build Consultant, Electromagnetic Radiation Specialist, and founder of The Healthy Home. After navigating two cancer diagnoses and years of environmental illness across multiple water-damaged homes, Zara made it her mission to bridge cutting-edge research and real-world building practice. She holds both the BBNC and EMRS certifications, placing her in a small group of building biologists globally qualified to integrate EMF awareness with moisture control, material health, and healthy design principles into mainstream construction.

Today, she works with builders, designers, building-product manufacturers and industry organisations across Australia and internationally, delivering professional education, technical consulting, EMF assessments, team capability training and keynote presentations that help integrate healthier materials, low-EMF design and Building Biology principles into home design & construction.

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Jo Gillies is a registered architect, director, and founder of Archisoul Architects in Sydney, Australia, with over thirty years of experience designing homes, heritage buildings, commercial spaces, and international wellness projects that go well beyond function. Her philosophy was shaped early by childhood years in the Bahamas and English villages that left her with a deep understanding of how the built environment creates belonging, community, and a sense of soul. She studied architecture at Sydney University, worked across architectural firms, film set design, and high-end furniture layout planning before founding Archisoul in 2012 around a single belief: that purposeful design activates the soul of the people living and working within it.

In 2014, Jo delivered a TEDx talk at the Powerhouse Museum on masculine and feminine principles in architecture, and her work has since expanded to draw from sacred geometry, biomorphic design, the five love languages, and decades of personal study through sacred retreats across Africa and Peru. She leads a team of twelve across residential, commercial, and international projects, including The Vessyl in Costa Rica and an ongoing collaboration with the Pyramids of Chi in Ubud, Bali, and brings the lens of building biology and low EMF design into her briefing process and material selection through her participation in Zara’s Healthy Building Materials Mastermind and Low EMF Home Design and Construction course.

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