Slowing the consumption of the world’s resources has been on the social and political agenda since the early 1960s yet population growth, increased personal affluence and the global economy have accelerated resource use to unsustainable levels.  With the developed, ‘Western’ world consuming 80% of the earth’s resources to sustain 20% of the global population, there have been calls to improve the efficiency of production processes by adopting ‘Factor X’ principles.  Factor 4, coined by the Rocky Mountain Institute in the USA, called for a doubling of production on half the resources.  Recognising that this is only really dealing with the ‘Western’ world, the Wuppertal Institute in Germany claimed a Factor 10 approach, a 90% reduction in resource use, is needed to deliver an equable and global solution to a sustainable pattern of production and consumption.  As a paradigm, slow design accepts the principles of Design for Sustainability, eco-design and green design, and encourages design to adopt a ‘Factor X’ approach based on eco-efficient use of resources.  This reduces consumption of finite resources but also slows the production of pollution and consequent habitat destruction and human health issues.

Kommode, Germany by Bär + Knell – Today’s palette of materials using recycled constituents is diverse and suggests new avenues of creativity to be explored.  Working with the German authority, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kunstoff-Recycling, which is responsible for recycling over half a million tonnes of plastic annually under the Green Dot system, designers Bär + Knell find new form and expression for recycled HDPE sheet.  Recycled plastics can save between 50-80% of the energy costs of virgin plastics and slows down consumption of a huge basket of chemicals and petroleum derivatives.

Fan Wing, Italy – slow aeroplanes might seem an awkward concept bearing in mind early failures in the history of flight, but the Fan Wing uses a revolutionary rotating leading edge that confers huge gains in lift for very little power expenditure.  This rotor delivers lift and thrust enabling take off and landing from short runways.  For just 100 horsepower a payload of 1 to 1.5 tonnes the FanWing is ideal for short-haul flights of personnel and cargo for disaster relief, fire-fighting, monitoring traffic jams, tourism or rescue missions.  Quiet and fuel efficient this aeroplane can cut emissions drastically and provide very flexible operation for diverse needs.  With a top speed of 37mph (60km/h) this is gentle flying.

Airtecture, Germany by Festo – Transportable buildings have a long and convincing history in architecture.  Portable lightweight structures are nothing unusual and find applications in the military, disaster relief and industry.  Airtecture is distinguished by its low weight (6 tonnes) to provide 357 square metres of space but its most striking feature is the ‘Y’-shaped buttresses and the pneumatic muscles which support and tension the whole building.  When the wind blows the muscles contract to resist the imposed deformation, so the building remains upright and rigid.  Easily deployed, this building offers an efficient solution in terms of embodied energy and construction costs compared to the expedient, short-life span commercial architecture found the world over.

BedZED, UK by Bill Dunster Architects and Bioregional – Zero energy housing developments are the ambition of many an aspiring green architect.  BedZED is one of those rare examples where this ambition is delivered with quality mixed use and tenure live-work and housing units. The Peabody Trust as client has delivered community and social housing projects throughout London for over a century, so the expectations of architecture to deliver a socio-cultural fabric were high.  The full tridos of sustainable design, environment, society and economy, were brought to bear on the solutions and the impacts were examined well beyond the confines of the development.  One arena is the transporation options.  Mixed use development encourges part of the community to work from home or within walking distance, existing transporation networks can easily be reached by using the community bicycle scheme and there is a pool of electric cars available.  The full gamut of eco-technologies from passive and active solar power to rain harvesting, waste management and energy conservation mean that BedZED should be ‘carbon neutral’ within a few years of operation – a first for Europe, and an excellent case study of slow consumption.

©2004, 2005 Alastair Fuad-Luke. All rights reserved.