Abstract:

We are moving too fast… fast lives, fast cars, fast food… and fast architecture. We are caught up in a world that allows no time to stop and think; to appreciate and enjoy all the really important things in our lives. Recent responses to this seemingly unstoppable trend are the growing movements of Slow Food and Cittaslow. Both initiatives are, within their own realms, attempting to reverse speed, homogeny, expediency and globalisation, considering the values of regionality, patience, craft, skill and longevity. The analogy between Slow Food and Slow Architecture are embraced at the Mackintosh School of Architecture where in the third year of the undergraduate programme, student design briefs are planned to address many practical issues with sustainability at the core; through a number of ‘food centric’ projects students are encouraged to consider how materiality and construction contribute to a sustainable architecture where craft, sensuality, and delight are explored, with consideration given in both micro and macro contexts. Working on the premise that speed driven architecture can result in a visually dominant architecture, one in which the spaces created are viewed rather than felt; the projects required a ‘Slow’ haptic response. Adopting the Slow Food Movement and its principles as the metaphor for ‘Slow Architecture’, our aim was to design a programme to embrace these key principle and encourage students to investigate a more holistically sensual approach to their architecture, with the aim to encourage investigations of proposals that would extend beyond the ‘visual’. A further ambition was to test if such projects would encourage a dialogue into how architecture can respond to the wider current issues of energy and food production and produce intelligent sustainable and appropriate proposals.