Frigerio Design Group is an interdisciplinary workgroup lead by Enrico Frigerio.

Frigerio Design Group’s slow architecture is a progressive form of architecture, which endures over time and draws the resources that give it definition from the surrounding context. It is architecture to be experienced in terms of total quality, that is to say, socially and economically sustainable. The word ‘total’ suggests the desire to govern the entire construction process: the nature and history of the site, climate, light and the contribution of the seasons occupy a privileged place in this exploratory process. That does not mean the final product has cause to dress up or hide: it may in fact embody the results of symbiosis or contrast, of combination or opposition, without betraying the ideal of general harmony with the context. Then there is the other important connotation, that of progressiveness: a piece of architecture begins to live at the moment in which the construction is finished, when it starts being used.

Every project is an adventure and every adventure involves exploration: nothing shall be taken for granted, everything will be questioned. The environment must be scrutinized and exploited: just think of the contribution of solar energy and the help offered by the microclimates produced by natural vegetation. Every available resource will be utilized logically to obtain the maximum with the minimum, pinpointing conditions of real sustainability. Nature is an unsurpassed model of sustainability in the way it uses resources – nothing is superfluous, everything is used and optimized. There are no predefined forms or images. Architecture is the result of a process of elaborating various ingredients. The methods, time scales and processes of slow architecture are such that it is poles apart from globalization. No innovation is exempt from the obligation to respect the site, the vigour and rigour of roots, the unparalleled, rich potential of constructing here and not elsewhere: slowly, progressively, over time.