In 1986 Carlo Petrini protested the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Piazza di Spagna, Rome and launched the Slow Food Movement. Carl Honoré explains in his book, In Praise of Slowness, that Slow Food “stands for everything that McDonalds does not: fresh, local, seasonal produce; recipes handed down through the generations; sustainable farming; artisanal production; leisurely dining with family and friends.” But ultimately the movement is about the sensual pleasures of food.
Slow Space is Slow Food for the built environment.
Thirty years after Carlo’s protest, organic produce, artisanal cheeses and craft beer are everywhere. Foodies flock to ever more specialized restaurants serving only food cultivated in their own backyards. Whole Foods is considered mass market and Michelle Obama is promoting farm-to-table in public schools. Carlo should be proud. He saved food!
Slow is not meant to be taken literally. As a concept, it is complex and was described most eloquently Honoré. “Fast and Slow do more than just describe a rate of change. They are shorthand for ways of being, or philosophies of life. Fast is busy, controlling, aggressive, hurried, analytical, stressed, superficial, impatient, active, quantity-over-quality. Slow is the opposite: calm, careful, receptive, still, intuitive, unhurried, patient, reflective, quality-over-quantity. It is about making real and meaningful connections – with people, culture, work, food, everything.”
Since then, the Slow Movement has touched almost every industry except ours. Slow Cities. Slow Aging. Slow Religion. Slow Cinema. Slow Education. Slow Sex. Slow Medicine. Slow Fashion. Slow Parenting. Slow Travel. Architecture, design and the building industry are conspicuously absent from the list.
In my web survey I have come across a few definitions of Slow Architecture that describe it as architecture that literally takes a long time to design and build. The Wikipedia entry cites this definition among others, citing the Sagrada Família, in Barcelona, as an example. I think this misses the point, or rather oversimplifies what I believe is a beautiful and complex idea. The Sagrada Familia certainly is slow in the sense that it is intuitive, unhurried, careful, reflective, deeply meaningful and connected to the site and the people. But it also happens to have taken a long time to build.
Good architecture inherently resists speed. The creative process is organic, nonlinear, often turbulent and does not wish to be rushed. Any artist knows this. But that does not extend infinitely. It is simply a matter of taking enough time to do it right.
The Slow Space Movement Stands for Quality Buildings that are Good, Clean and Fair”
Ninety percent of our time is spent inside a building. The spaces where you live, work and visit have a huge impact on your life, health and mood. McMansions are the architectural equivalent of fast food. Poor quality, made with cheap materials, bloated with fillers and chemicals, depressing to be in, built fast and without a thoughtful design. Every town has them and nobody really wants them. But there aren’t many other options.
That’s our fault. We as architects, designers, builders and artisans have not protested the McMansions and other soul-less “junkspace,” the term Rem Koolhaas used to describe strip malls, big box stores and developer high-rises. We roll our eyes, complain and go about trying to produce quality work, while our market share gets smaller and smaller. We haven’t launched a grassroots revolution. Yet. We need to take a stand in defense of Slow Space.
The Slow Space Movement promotes good quality buildings, made with clean healthy materials and built with fair labor. The three principles of good, clean and fair are borrowed from the Slow Food Movement as they apply equally well to the design and construction industry. The movement is about creating buildings of enduring value for the world, using the planet’s precious resources judiciously and wisely, and supporting the community of artisans and craftspeople. The Slow Space Movement takes the long view regarding design and construction, believing that buildings should last hundreds of years and benefit the common good.
