Slow architecture is a term believed to have grown from the
slow food
Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and re ...
movement of the mid-1980s.Holly Hoffma ''Calgary designers take interest in ‘slow architecture’'' , The Calgary Journal, 12 August 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-11.About Slow , Slowarchitecture.ie. Retrieved 2011-11-11 A Daily Dose of Architecture (blog) - text attributed to Nahm Yoon-ho of the Korean JoongAng Daily, 21 June 2004. Retrieved 2011-11-11. Slow architecture is generally
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
that is created gradually and organically, as opposed to building it quickly for short-term goals. It is often combined with an ecological, environmentally sustainable approach.
Slow architecture could also be interpreted literally to mean architecture that has taken a very long time to build, for example the
Sagrada Família
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, shortened as the Sagrada Família, is an unfinished church in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Designed by ...
, in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
.
When
Eduardo Souto de Moura
Eduardo Elísio Machado Souto de Moura (; born 25 July 1952), better known as Eduardo Souto de Moura, is a Portuguese architect who was the recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2011 and the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2013. Along with Ferna ...
won the 2011 Pritzker Prize, a jury member described his buildings as slow architecture, because it required careful consideration to appreciate its intricacies. Professor
Kenneth Frampton
Kenneth Brian Frampton (born 20 November 1930) is a British architect, critic and historian. He is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York. He has b ...
said "Souto de Moura's work is sort of more grounded in a way... They have their character coming from the way in which they have been developed as structures." 2012 Pritzker winner
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
has launched a not-for-profi website designed to promote "slow homes". This follows ten years of research. A slow home is described as attractive, in harmony with the neighbourhood, and energy efficient, using a smaller carbon footprint.
China
Pritzker Prize winning architect
Wang Shu
Wang Shu (, born 4 November 1963) His buildings evoke the densely packed architecture of China's older cities, with intimate courtyards, tilting walls and a variety of sloping roofs. "Cities today have become far too large. I’m really worried, because it’s happening too fast and we have already lost so much" he says.
Ireland
The slow architecture project in Ireland launched a touring exhibition by canal boat in 2010. The boat travelled between seven locations over a six-week period, with artists and architects holding workshops and lectures at each stopping point.Slow Architecture and Place - Exhibition, Ireland e-architect.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-11-11
United States
In 2008, architects from leading US practices took part in a
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
-based project called
Slow Food Nation
Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and reg ...
. They created constructions that were generally food-related and ecologically motivated, including a variety of pavilions, a water station made from recycled bottles, a compost exhibit and a "
soapbox
A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipme ...
Slow movement (culture)
The slow movement (sometimes capitalised Slow movement or Slow Movement) advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life's pace. It began with Carlo Petrini's protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome in ...
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Slow Food
Slow Food is an organization that promotes local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and re ...
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Cittaslow
Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy and inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life a ...
Architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...