Marco Casagrande

Marco Casagrande

Marco Casagrande (born in 1971) graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, in 2001. From the early stages of his career, Casagrande began combining architecture with other forms of art and science, creating a series of environmentally conscious architectural projects around the world.

He is the recipient of the European Prize for Architecture 2013, the CICA Award 2013 from the International Committee of Architectural Critics for conceptual and artistic architecture, and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2015.

Casagrande’s work was selected three times for the Venice Architecture Biennale, in 2000, 2004 and 2006.

His work and teaching seamlessly intertwine architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and environmental design, science and ecological art. Within the vibrant architectural discourse he calls “commedia dell’architettura,” he introduces a broader vision of the human habitat, connecting it with social drama and ecological awareness.

“There is nothing more natural than nature.”

Casagrande sees architects as design shamans who merely interpret what is communicated by the highest force of nature.

Casagrande views cities as living organisms with complex energy systems, in which intersecting layers and flows of energy influence both the actions of citizens and the development of the city.

By combining environmental architecture and urban planning, Casagrande develops methods for manipulating urban energy flows in order to guide cities towards ecologically sustainable development and the so-called Third-Generation City.

His theory sees the future of urban development as the ruins of the industrial city — an organic machine destroyed by nature, including human nature.

Urban Acupuncture

Urban Acupuncture is the cross-disciplinary architectural manipulation of the collective sensory intelligence of a city. The city is viewed as an energetic organism and a living environment.

Urban acupuncture seeks to establish contact with nature. Sensitivity is required to perceive the flows of Qi beyond the visible city and to respond to its hotspots and impulses. Ecological art is capable of producing acupuncture needles for the city’s Qi.

A weed can grow from the smallest crack in asphalt and eventually destroy a city. Urban acupuncture is the weed, while the acupuncture point is the crack. The potential for intervention is total, connecting human nature as an integral part of Nature.

The theory opens the door to uncontrolled creativity and freedom. Ruins are something created by humans that has become part of nature.

Since 2000, Casagrande has taught at 65 academic universities in 25 countries, including Aalto University, the University of Art and Design Helsinki, the Ando Laboratory at the University of Tokyo, and the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

He was invited as a professor at the Bergen School of Architecture from 2001 to 2004 and at the Faculty of Architecture of Tamkang University in Taiwan from 2004 to 2009.

Casagrande is also the head of the independent interdisciplinary research centre Ruin Academy, based in Taipei and Taitung, Taiwan (2010–present), and Artena, Italy (2013–present), in cooperation with Aalto University’s SGT Sustainable Global Technologies Centre.

Since 2014, Casagrande has served as Vice President of the International Society of Eco-Urbanism.

Marco Casagrande is also the Director of Casagrande Laboratory (2003–present), a multidisciplinary design and innovation practice founded in Finland and operating worldwide. He is also a member of WEAK!, together with Hsieh Ying-chun and Roan Ching-yueh.