Eco Design + Living focuses on the built and natural environments as they relate to the two most important things we need to sustain ourselves, shelter and food. Written by Chandra F. Hartman, this blog provides vingettes of information about living sustainably on the Gulf Coast. Visit the Eco Design + Living website for more information. Most importantly, live well.
Slow Food Inspires Slow Home
Posted 02-18-2009 at 11:59 PM by Chandra
Tags architecture, building, sustainability
Entry to "Pipe Dreams" at Elefante in AZ
I wish that I could claim that I thought of Slow Home first, what can I say? I didn’t, but when I ran across the idea, I was like, “Well, yeah.” Borrowing a page from the Slow Food Movement, Slow Home seeks to empower ourselves to create healthy, vibrant homes, improve quality of life, and reduce our impact on the environment. How is this achieved? By taking the time to consider our choices when building and selecting a home or community. The fast pace of building over the last 10 years has left us with an abundance of cheaply built, homogenous housing stock that was often built for profit, not for humans.
With the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts at 466,000, the lowest level post WWII, the Slow Home movement is well positioned to fall into favor. A new era of building or deconstructing that encompasses environmental restorative design, reconnecting humans and nature, and is a celebration of the human spirit is what we may see more of in the future.
For your consideration, from the Slow Home website:
The 10 Steps to a Slow Home
1. GO INDEPENDENT
Avoid homes by big developers and large production builders. They are designed for profit not people. Work with independent designers and building contractors instead.
2. GO LOCAL
Avoid home finishing products from big box retailers. The standardized solutions they provide cannot fit the unique conditions of your home. Use local retailers, craftspeople, and manufacturers to get a locally appropriate response and support your community.
3. GO GREEN
Stop the conversion of nature into sprawl. Don’t buy in a new suburb. The environmental cost can no longer be justified. Re-invest in existing communities and use sustainable materials and technologies to reduce your environmental footprint.
4. GO NEAR
Reduce your commute. Driving is a waste of time and the new roads and services required to support low density development is a big contributor to climate change. Live close to where you work and play.
5. GO SMALL
Avoid the real estate game of bigger is always better. A properly designed smaller home can feel larger AND work better than a poorly designed big one. Spend your money on quality instead of quantity.
6. GO OPEN
Stop living in houses filled with little rooms. They are dark, inefficient, and don’t fit the complexity of our daily lives. Live in a flexible and adaptive open plan living space with great light and a connection to outdoors.
7. GO SIMPLE
Don’t buy a home that has space you won’t use and things you don’t need. Good design can reduce the clutter and confusion in your life. Create a home that fits the way you really want to live.
8. GO MODERN
Avoid fake materials and the re-creation of false historical styles. They are like advertising images and have little real depth. Create a home in which character comes from the quality of space, natural light and the careful use of good, sustainable materials.
9. GO HEALTHY
Avoid living in a public health concern. Houses built with cheap materials off gas noxious chemicals. Suburbs promote obesity because driving is the only option. Use natural, healthy home materials and building techniques. Live where you can walk to shop, school and work.
10. GO FOR IT
Stop procrastinating. The most important, and difficult, step in the slow home process is the first one that you take. Get informed and then get involved with your home. Every change, no matter how small, is important.
Total Comments 2
Comments
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Cool, but I have to comment on #8. True, it is the height of stupidity and arrogance to build a Swiss Chalet in what once was a cow pasture in the Heart of Dixie. But historic architecture indigenous to a place -- i.e., the vernacular architecture -- offers built-in sustainability. Traditional architectural forms and styles of any given place were honed to maximum efficiency and effectiveness before the advent of cars, highways, central air and heat, even indoor plumbing and electricity.
By their very nature, architectures of place are -- as Steve Mouzon & Co. like to say -- "The Original Green".
I know you already knowall this and way more, I just have to rattle on for kicks.
I think today's best designers and builders (like you) are finding ways to hybridize traditional forms and styles with the best available bulding materials, methods and technologies to get the best of both worlds.Posted 02-26-2009 at 08:11 AM by Susan Horn
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Good comment. I went back to the SlowHome site to find the steps in context. No could find. I think the suggestion is in line with what you're saying, but the words "Go Modern" are not representative of that.
I had the opportunity to meet Steve at the Seaside forum with JHK and I really like his site. I'll do a little post on that in the future.Posted 02-26-2009 at 11:41 AM by Chandra
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