Slow Architecture

Slow architecture is a design philosophy that grew out of the slow food movement of the mid-1980s, favoring gradual, organic building over rapid construction driven by short term commercial pressure. It calls for design that is thoughtful and time intensive, that reduces environmental and carbon impact, and that fits comfortably with its surrounding neighborhood, valuing quality and character over speed of completion, and is often paired with an ecological, environmentally sustainable approach to building. The 2011 Pritzker Prize winner Eduardo Souto de Moura is cited as an architect whose structures reward extended contemplation in this spirit, and the philosophy also takes in buildings that literally took a long time to finish, such as Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, still under construction more than a century after it began. Wang Shu, the 2012 Pritzker Prize winner, has likewise been recognized for designs that draw on traditional urban qualities such as intimate courtyards and varied architectural elements in the same slow spirit.