Marco Casagrande

Marco Casagrande Marco Casagrande (born May 7, 1971 in Turku, Finland) is a Finnish architect, writer and professor of architecture. Cross disciplinary, radical and ecologically conscious nature of creative work moving freely in between architecture, urban planning, environmental art and other disciplines of art and science. Graduated from Helsinki University of Technology department of architecture (2001). Early life Casagrande was born in Turku, Finland, to a well-off family. He was raised in Ylitornio in the Finnish Lappland before moving to Helsinki to study architecture. After his Finnish Army service in 1993 Casagrande volunteered to the Bosnian Croat Defence Forces HVO. He wrote a controversial book Mostarin tien liftarit / Hitchhikers on the Road to Mostar (WSOY 1997)[1] about his experiences in the Bosnian Civil War. Career Architect Office Casagrande & Rintala 1998-2003 together with architect Sami Rintala. Architectonic installation Land(e)scape (1999) was regarded as a unique work of architecture mixing with other disciplines of art and awarded in the Architectural Review's Emerging ArchitectureAward competition after which Casagrande & Rintala became selected to Venice Biennale 2000 special exhibition Citta: Less Aesthetics, More Ethics. The director of the Biennale architect Massimiliano Fuksas nominated Casagrande & Rintala for the Golden Lion against the jury's selected architect Jean Nouvel, who eventually won the award. Casagrande Laboratory (2003-), an international co-operative of architects, artists, humanists and scientists working with inter-disciplinary methods within the fied of build human environment. Close co-operation with industrial artist Marty Ross and scientist Antti Antinoja. Casagrande is continuing the research line of the Bergen School of Architecture's theory open formand focusing in the recent research on thethird generation city and urban acupuncture, in which post industrial cities are treated as energy organism in order to find design solutions for environmentally sustainable urban development and landscape urbanism. In urban design theories links with architect Ti-Nan Chi 's micro urbanism, arhitect Vilen Künnapu's energy center architecture and Helsinki University of Technology's local knowledge. According to Casagrande the best human living condition is an organic and openly transforming combination of a simultaneous ruin and a construction site. City must be a compost. Lives and works in Finland and Taiwan. Professor of architecture in the Taiwan based Tamkang University since 2004. Walking, burning, swimming and flying architecture Casagrande & Rintala developed the design methodology of architectonic installations, in which conceptual art design consepts were realized in architectural scale and and with architectural space, time and structure qualities. The installation Land(e)scape had three abandoned barnhouses mounted on 10 metersh high wooden stilts to follow the farmers to the cities of the south commenting on the desertion process of the Finnish coutryside. In the end the installation was set on fire. To comment on the theme of the Venice Biennial 2000 Citta: Less Aesthetics More Ethics Casagrande & Rintala planted an oak forest into an abandoned barge on top of 60 minutes worth of human waste produced by the city of Venice and opened up the installation 60 Minute Man as a public park in the Arsenale harbor. In Yokohama Triennial 2001 they attacked the Japanese urban conditions with balsa birds attached to meteorological balloons that first took the birds up to the hight of 10 kilometres after which the balloon would explode and the birds would glide into the cities carrying vegetable seeds inside. This work is the anti-thesis of the 9-11 attack. Casagrande & Rintala's birds are also hitting the skyscrapers, but they are bringing hope, they are building up the connection between the modern man and nature. Japan Times Selected works of Casagrande Laboratory • Treasure Hill[3], urban acupuncture realization, Taipei Taiwan 2003. An illegal community of 400 residents changed into a laboratory of sustainable urban living. Cult status in Taiwan. • ''Post Industrial Fleet'', naval architecture, Venice Architecture Biennial 2004 Italy. Recycling strategies for big scale industrial ships as fixed architectonic objects. Together with CREW*31, Denmark. • Human Layer, Open Form urban design, London Architecture Biennial and Greetings from London 2004. A network of democratic stations along the city tuning the environment towards kindness. • Trojan Rocking Horse, urban acupuncture, Taipei on the Move 2004. Attacking the Taipei City with 8 Trojan Rocking Horses. Together with Marty Ross and Tamkang University. • Future pavillion , ultra ruin, Taiwan Design Expo 2005[6]. An abandoned Japanese army laundry building changed into an interdiciplinary art and architecture gallery. • ''Chamber of the Post-Urbanist 104'', life style concept, Taiwan Museum of Contemporary Art, 2005. Steel made furniture for cave man style hi & low tech futuristic living. • S.L.U.M., urban design, Urban flashes Mumbai India 2006. Environmental urban design for third generation city in the Oshiwara chain of slums. • Yuo Yuan, installation, Taiwan Pavillion, Venice Architecture Biennale 2006 Italy. A zen garden out of recycled crushed glass with transparent glass rocks and a swing. Together with 3RW-Architects. External links • Casagrande Laboratory • The Paratrooping Finn by David Frazier .

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