The Slow Space Movement
What is Slow Space?
A place to pause and connect with your senses
Slow Space is a place you enjoy spending time in, where you feel relaxed, comfortable, calm and happy. Imagine it may be your bedroom, your church, a cozy cafe, or the New York Public Library. Slow Space is deliberate, meaningful space that has been designed and crafted for you and your experience. It calls out to all of your senses and leaves a lasting impression in your mind by way of your nose, skin, eyes and ears. It is not a place you pass through or an object building to look at, but a place to inhabit, linger and experience. It is the antidote to our busy, harried lives.
What is The Slow Space Movement?
Slow Food for the Built Environment
In 1986 Carlo Petrini protested the opening of McDonald’s in Rome and launched the Slow Food Movement. Carl Honoré explains that Slow Food “stands for everything that McDonald’s does not: fresh, local, seasonal produce; recipes handed down through the generations; sustainable farming; artisanal production; leisurely dining with family and friends.” And above all, the Movement is about the sensual pleasures of food. Thirty years after Carlo’s protest, organic produce, artisanal cheeses and craft beer are everywhere.
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. We find that strange. So we decided to do something.
What Do Others Say?
Fair, safe construction practices, clean local materials, and designs that use what neuroscientists know about how physical structures affect personal well-being all are part of the slow space movement.
– Renée Loth, The Boston Globe
Good
A good home is well-designed, beautiful, and will last for generations. It inspires joy in our daily lives. A good home is also connected to nature, even in the city, to help us slow down, reflect, rejuvenate, and heal.
Clean
A clean home is healthy and free from pollutants that hurt people and the planet. It is carbon-neutral, built with non-toxic materials, and uses passive building design strategies to minimize energy use.
Fair
A fair home is accessible to people of all ages, races, abilities, and income levels. It is built with fair labor, free of exploitation on the job site and in the supply chain, and uses materials sourced ethically and sustainably.
