Alone

Alone

by Eivind Hustvedt

eivindlh89@gmail.com

tutors

Marco Casagrande (1971) is a Finnish architect, biourbanist and social theorist. From the early stages of his career Casagrande started to mix architecture with other disciplines of art and science landing with a series of ecologically conscious architectural installations around the world. «There is no other reality than nature». He views architects as design shamans merely interpreting what the bigger nature of the shared mind is transmitting.

Casagrande views cities as complex energy organisms in which different overlapping layers of energy flows are determining the actions of the citizens as well as the development of the city. By mixing environmentalism and urban design Casagrande is developing methods of Urban Acupuncture in order to create an ecologically sustainable urban development towards the so-called Third Generation City.

Casagrande has been teaching in 65 academic institutions in 25 countries and realized more than 70 works in 14 different countries. The widely published works have been exhibited five times in the Venice Architecture Biennale (2000, 2004, 2006, 2014 and 2016) and in Havana Biennale 2000, Firenze Biennial 2001, Yokohama Triennial 2001, Montreal Biennial 2002, Puerto Rico Biennial 2002, Demeter Hokkaido 2002, Alaska Design Forum 2003, Echigo-Tsumari Triennial 2003, Taipei on the Move 2004, London Architecture Biennial 2004, Sensoria Melbourne 2004, Taiwan Design Expo 2005 and 2014, Urban Flashes Mumbai 2006, 7-ELEVEN City 2007, World Architecture Festival 2009, Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-City Biennial 2009 and 2012, Victoria & Albert Museum 2010, Beaufort Triennial 2012, Austrian Museum of Contemporary Art MAK “Eastern Promises” 2013, Buenos Aires Architecture Biennale 2013, China Central Academy of Fine Arts CAFAM Biennale 2014, Habitare Helsinki 2014, Tallinn Architecture Biennial 2015 and Moscow Urban Forum 2016.

World Architecture Community Awards 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015, World Architecture Festival Award 2009, Architectural Review House Award 2010, Red Dot Design Award 2012 and Union of Architects of Russia annual “Zeleny Proekt” Award 2012. Marco Casagrande is the laureate of the European Prize for Architecture 2013, Committee of International Architecture Critics CICA Award 2013 for conceptual and artistic architecture and UNESCO & Locus Foundation Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2015.

Marco is the principal of the Casagrande Laboratory, internationally operating architecture and innovation office based in Helsinki, Finland and Vice-President of the International Society of Biourbanism.

course

Diploma project

location

Apotekerhagen, Bergen, Norway

Tags

years

2019

Introduction

Modes of contact with strangers

The project is a subjective exploration of the physical and the perceived state of being alone in the city. Through different investigations of the blurred transitions between the private and the public sphere, I have tried to understand what it is that makes us feel included or excluded, exposed or overlooked. These investigations has resulted in a discussion on how the potential that windows hold, both for privacy and contact, can be used to challenge the notion of exposure, while offering both intimate and social situations.

1:1 recreation of site in exhibition, with 1:1 sketch

The project is a subjective investigation about the physical and the perceived state of of being alone in the city. My process started when I got curious about the difference between the concepts of «loneliness» and «solitude», two very different aspects of being alone. As Paul Tillich puts it: ”Our language has wisely sensed the two sides of being alone. It has created the word loneliness to express the pain of being alone, and it has created the word solitude to express the glory of being alone.”

While being alone is a physical phenomenon, loneliness is linked to the perception of being alone. One can be in the middle of a crowd, have a lot of friends, and still have a deep feeling of being alone. This feeling is what we call loneliness. Everyone will most probably at some point in their life experience a sense of loneliness, and these feelings are often very subjective, influenced by personality, experience, environment and circumstances. It´s therefore very difficult to define what loneliness actually is, and nearly impossible to find a solution that fits all. Many writers and scientists agree that for many people who experience loneliness, finding peace with being alone rather than more socializing is the best way to challenge the lonely feelings.