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JOHN BROWN is the editor of theslowhome.com and the founder of the Slow Home Movement. He is a registered architect, real estate broker and Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary.
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We Believe that Architecture can Change the World
Julia, Laura and Troy
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House on Last Mountain Lake
House on Last Mountain Lake, Interior View
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We each received Master of Architecture degrees from the University of Calgary, Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) in 2000. During our last year at EVDS we contributed to the award winning exhibition Calgary Modern 1947-1967, as members of Marc Boutin’s construction and fabrication team. Following graduation Troy was employed by two small design offices in Calgary, Down + Livesey Architects (2000 – 2001) and the office of rd Architecture Inc (2001 – 2004). Laura started with CPV Group Architects and Engineers of Calgary in 2000 and remained with this firm until completion of the Prairie Design Award winning renovation to the Jubilee Auditoria in Edmonton and Calgary in 2005.
We relocated to Edmonton in 2004 to work with noted Alberta architect, Barry Johns at his firm Barry Johns (Architecture) Limited. In 2007 Barry merged the firm with Group2 Architecture Engineering Ltd where we are both currently architects and managing associates of the Edmonton studio. Our personal and office work has been published in national and international publications such as Canadian Architect, Avenue Magazine, Western Living, Landscape Architecture and Dwell. We believe in contributing to the greater architecture and design communities in Alberta by volunteering with organization such as the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) Alberta Chapter, the Alberta Association of Architects, and Media Art Design Exposed (MADE) in Edmonton.
We are committed to lessening our impact on the environment; we limit ourselves to one small car, we ride our bikes/or walk/or run to work at least three times a week and transport our daughter, Julia, in her ‘chariot’ child trailer daily to and from daycare. We compost, like compact fluorescent light bulbs, have a programmable thermostat and are eliminating (almost all) lawn from our inner city house lot. We like wood, stone, steel and many other materials derived from nature. We are modernists who believe in local solutions for place making, not one size fits all solutions. We believe that architecture can change the world.
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We believe that our homes and neighborhoods should be healthy, vibrant places that uplift the spirit and gracefully fit our needs. We call for an end to poor construction, bad design, misleading marketing, unfair lending practices and environmental neglect in the housing industry. We acknowledge our collective responsibility to create CLOSE, SIMPLE, LIGHT places to live that leave a positive legacy for future generations.
provides design focused information that homeowners can use to improve the quality of how and where they live. It takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. The sprawl of cookie cutter housing that surrounds us is like fast food - standardized, homogenous, and wasteful. It contributes to a too fast life that is bad for us, our cities, and the environment. In the same way that slow food raises awareness of the food we eat and how these choices affect our lives, Slow Home empowers you to take more control of your home and improve the quality of how you live while reducing your environmental impact and futureproofing the long term investment value of your home.
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