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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Transformation of a 1950s Bungalow
Front Facade 1
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Front Facade 2
Rear Garden Space
Outdoor Patio
More Outdoor Space Blending with the Indoors
Large Glass Wall Bringing the Outdoors In
Living and Dining Rooms
Library and Stairs
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The design strips and rebuilds a 1950s house. The courtyard footprint is expanded to become an H, and the vertical massing is reoriented to follow the topography of the hill. The exterior is clad in zinc and horizontal wood siding. The roof folds over, turning into a wall that protects the interior.
Lower walls bound the H to create outdoor courts. The interior is refurbished in a palette of simple materials, including concrete, drywall, wood, and glass. A quiet world of spaces and courts forms a peaceful setting: house intertwined with garden, flowing in and out of the transparent walls.
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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 Good, Close, Light places to live that leave a positive legacy for future generations.
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is an international movement devoted to bringing good design into real life. 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 provides design focused information to empower each of us to take more control of our homes and improve the quality of where and how we live.
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