Design Process
What is a Slow home?
When we began specializing in eco-friendly home construction a few years ago, our team wanted to add extra value to our designs and start working on what we now call Slow homes. But what exactly do we mean by the Slow concept, what is a Slow home?
For us, an ecological house was not just about incorporating standard energy efficiency systems like photovoltaic panels or water-saving systems; instead, we approached each new project holistically. We envisioned the entire dwelling functioning integrally to not only save energy and reduce consumption to virtually zero, but also to provide a healthy and natural indoor environment.
Thus, we already had the two essential ingredients:
1- An efficient and ecological home
2- A healthy and natural home
However, the recipe for our homes needed the “final touch,” and we found this not in the house itself, but in the client. For us, it has always been essential to put ourselves in the client’s shoes and, based on a set budget, achieve a simple, practical, and comfortable design tailored to their current and future needs.
We believe this is the secret to ensuring a person enjoys their home and feels at ease and comfortable all year round, and we summarize it as the third indispensable ingredient:
3- A home where you can be happy
The design of a Slow home
There came a point when we realized that all our clients followed the same pattern: they were young families with children or planning to have them soon, and they wanted an ecological home designed by someone who shared their values.
It was at this moment, after designing our first ecological and natural houses, that we decided we needed to launch a website to explain what we were doing and introduce the concept of a Slow home.
The Slow home website
While searching for a name for our website, we came across the Slow concept—an idea we were already familiar with through the culinary movement of the same name. It refers to a type of cuisine and diet based on organic, local products cooked traditionally, respecting the ancestral values and processes of each community.
The Slow Food concept was born as an alternative to Fast Food. It moves away from quick, industrialized meals associated with a lifestyle where family dinners or long conversations with friends take a backseat because we are too busy working to dedicate time to what truly makes us happy.
This concept could easily be applied to architecture and home construction.
After years of a real estate boom where developers thought only of financial profit and houses were mass-produced without regard for quality, sustainability, or the well-being of the occupants—because only profit per square meter mattered—it was time to rethink everything and offer alternatives.
The Slow home
And that is how we arrived at the idea of what a Slow home is.
A Slow home is:
– Ecological
– Natural
– A place to be happy
The million-dollar question is: can a house be ecological but not natural?
Of course!
Nowadays, the “eco” boom has become a marketing tool. “Ecological” cars are sold that run on diesel just because they emit less, or prefabricated ecological houses are marketed where the only “eco” features are a couple of solar panels on the roof… the eco logo sells, people feel they are consuming responsibly, and most of the time they don’t look any deeper.
But the truth is that for something to be truly considered eco, it should be fully recyclable or reusable indefinitely and in harmony with the environment.
This is what is known as sustainability.
Furthermore, our home must be a healthy place where the interior environment is a harmonious space free from electro-pollution, with high air quality and optimal temperature and humidity levels, all with minimal energy expenditure.
This is best understood through an example:
We can go to the market to buy local vegetables from a local farmer; this is ecological.
But if this farmer uses chemical fertilizers to make the crop grow faster, then the vegetables are not healthy.
The same applies to construction materials. We can use materials of natural origin, such as rock wool, for example; however, if that rock wool uses formaldehyde to bind its fibers, then we are exposing ourselves to a carcinogenic component present in the insulation of our walls.
Slow home: a place to be happy
And finally, the last premise—and perhaps the one that differentiates or adds the most value to our Slow homes—is designing a house for happiness.
This is what we always like to remind our clients when they come to the studio with doubts about the type of house they want to build.
A Slow home is, above all, a house designed “over a low flame,” where the architect and client meet for many hours to get to know each other and understand the needs of the household. It is a custom-made home where all spaces respond to very specific requirements and where the entire program adapts to the current and future needs of the family.
Windows that filter light and provide access to a porch protected by a green pergola that filters sunlight while letting in a gentle breeze; children’s rooms connected to each other that become a study for the whole family; interior courtyards that create an indoor atmosphere full of light and freshness, and so on.
The list of requirements can be as long as the dreams of someone building the home of their life—a Slow home!
As always, we remind you that we look forward to seeing you at our studio to discuss building a Slow home.
We always recommend coming for an initial meeting so we can get to know each other and understand your requirements, needs, and budget.
Our team also offers support in searching for and selecting land if you don’t have it yet, and of course, before you buy it, we will accompany you to assess the feasibility of building an ecological Slow home.