This book contains a selection of Visions, Projects, and Images of imagined, fictional, speculative, conceptual and realistic urban transformations. Art of Cities is an art oriented urban design studio that combines the use of visual art in service to a wider scenario of urban thinking.”visions”are visualization for a project, representation of a final image, for exhibitions, publications, divulgation and sensibilization of ideas: the motor of society.
Jacopo Grilli
IND EX
Relevant experience 2020-2022
Test #1; The Island
IABR 2022 • Graduation project 2020
Future Encounters AHK honourary program 2022
Where are we Now? Art of Cities
The Tribune on the Rhine Bura Urbanism
Centrum Van Zuid Bura Urbanism
De Vleugels van Gorinchem Bura Urbanism
Il Filo della Città Art of Cities
The Solved City Art of Cities
Natura Sola Magistra Art of Cities
The unexpected mile Academie van Bouwkunst 2018
Workshops Art of cities
BIO
MILAN • ITALY •AMSTERDAM • THE NETHERLANDS
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE ACADEMIC STUDIES • WORK EXPERIENCE •EDUCATION
ABOUT
Name: Email: Telephone: Nationality: Birth: Adress: Adress: Website:
Jacopo Grilli artofcities@gmail.com +31 68593908 Italian Milano, Italy, 29/8/1991 Amsterdam (NL) Art of Cities
I am a visual artist and urban designer based in Amsterdam. My interest is to describe and research a sense of humanity in the city. I believe that cities are the mirror of our society and working on the future by designing them means a great responsibility. My passion for images guides me to work in the field of visual arts at service to urban design. Imagination is the main tool and methodology for my work. The aim is to describe, imagine and modify the fundamental human environment: The City.
WORK EXPERIENCE
2021- current 02/2021 - current 09/2021 - 07/2022 10/2018 - 01/2022 11/2017 - 07/2018 2016-2017
Independent visual artist/urban designer (Art of Cities) Teacher & collaborator at Academy of Architecture of Amsterdam Honorary program Art & Society (AHK Amsterdam) Urban Designer at BURA Urbanism, Amsterdam Assistant designer Rotterdam , West 8 Urban Design & Landscape, Rotterdam Intern ships at Play the city & Venhoeven CS
EDUCATION
11/2021 08/2020 02/2015
Regenerative Cities & De-Urban Design Course, Ecodemia, London, UK Master Degree in Urbanism, Academy of Architecture of Amsterdam 2016-2020 Bachelor Degree in Urban Planning, Politecnico di Milano 2011-2015
EXHIBITIONS
10/2023 08/2022 07/2022 09/2021 06/2021 11/2019 10/2019
Zo als de Stad, solo exhibition at Concordia Kunstruimte, Enschede IABR, Future Generations / Ministerie van Maak Future Encounters, Commandantswoning Marineterrein, Amsterdam Archiprix exhibition, Dutch design week, TU Eindhoven Archiprix exhibition, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam Exhibition Participation at Italian Institute of Culture in Amsterdam “As we know it” Collective exhibition, Vondelbunker, Vondelpark, Amsterdam
RESIDENCIES
07/2023 - 10/2023 01/2023 - 04/2023 08/2022 - 01/2023 10/2021 - 07/2021
BijlmAIR residency, CBK Zuid Oost, Amsterdam Stichting La Jetee, NDSM Werf, Amsterdam Artist residency at Shebang Amsterdam, Zuid Oost, Amsterdam Honorary program AHK Art & Society Program, Amsterdam
PUBLICATIONS
03/2022 03/2021 04/2021 07/2021
Archined, Test #1, The Island, 17 March 2022 link Archiprix Nomination, Best graduation projects of the Netherlands link Artwort, Illustrated interview, 16 April 2021 link De Architect, Tekening van de Week link
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
06/2022 01/2021 12/2020 12/2020
“A Feeling Environment“: Makersfestival, Het Koorenhuis theater, Den Haag link 1st prize Maker zoekt maker & Keep an eye foundation:Colours of Music project link Nomination Archiprix 2021 link 1st prize Hackaton Ferrara (Ita) Airbreak (Politecnico di Milano)Air pollution misuration system
THE RANDSTAD • THE NETHERLANDS
TEST#1; THE ISLAND IABR 2022 • GRADUATION PROJECT 2020
“A city shaped by geography and culture that relies on its natural resources, and enhances them as the principal reason of existence“
connect
protect
“The contemporary traffic exchange station for the metropolis’’
“A construction of an eroic border for the cultural settlement to resist to the water invasion’’
define
“The ultimate urban development to face the natural element of the metropolis’’
live
“An example of adaptation to the inevitable flooding’’
The Island Strategy Consists of the process of Natural and Cultural isolation of the Randstad, in order to achieve a balanced agreement between the two elements. It is divided in temporal and spatial sub-strategies in order to prioritize the policies for a better life in an unconscious Metropolis.
“A protected but accessible space dedicated to nature and agriculture’’
Test#1; The Island, translating an urban ideal into an urban design
This project is an attempt at a work methodology where imagination is considered to be the main design tool. This suggests that the power of an image is able to inspire and suggest the culture of making projects. Over the course of about 15 years, a personal intuition for a city has been elaborated and implemented through a selection of drawings that summarize the imaginative process. Subsequently, the imagination was confronted with the urgencies of the contemporaneity that underlines the actual relationship with human life in the city, such as: the growth of the urban population, the urban densification and sprawl, and overproduction and waste. This has resulted in a dramatic absence of nature and an ‘unconscious’ growth, based on the economy of our society. The design proposal departed from the shift of the current urban paradigm: the necessary coming together of Nature & Culture is a spatial and ethical agreement. The conclusion is reported in a panoramic picture of the renewed metropolis that enhances its qualities and represents a relevant approach to balance.
MARINETERREIN • THE NETHERLANDS AMSTERDAMSE MAR OETINGEN INET ONTM ERR IGE EIN MST O K E TO
FUTURE ENCOUNTERS PILOT PROJECT 2022
TO
EK
EIN
R OM TER STIG RINE E ONT MOETINGEN AMSTERDAMSE MA
Future Encounters, Marineterrein This pilot project is part of a broader project called HU-HA (human habitat): an artistic and urban-sociological research of the future of the main behaviors, needs and practices of the human being in the anthropologic space: the city. The project investigates, questions, and imagines the human behavior and need of meeting performed as a necessary ritual. The outcome of the research is a painting describing the practice of encountering by envisioning and predicting how the urban space will be influenced by our changes in society. Considering the cities as places for meeting: What is the value and meaning of the act of meeting? How are we going to perform it in the future? How are cities going to be affected by our changing behavior? The Marineterrein area has be used as a test location to experiment this behavioral and sentimental approach towards the city. The totality of the island is re-developed as a catalyst for encounters. Open space, architecture and programme have been re-think and re-drawed in order to achieve a sensitive prediction of how the city might have chosen to develop the island. A site specific approach, a vocational function, has been chosen rather than an economical revenue model.
AMSTERDAM ZUIDOOST • THE NETHERLANDS
WHERE ARE WE NOW? ARTIST RESIDENCY • ART OF CITIES • 2023
THE MAKING OF THE MULTI CULTURAL CITY
from who am I, to who we are?
ANALYSIS
“From ‘Who am I’ to ‘Who We Are” Art-residency,participation,consultancy. In a multicultural city like Amsterdam, issues related to identity, belonging, and cultural heritage often go unaddressed during neighborhood development. With demographic How does individuals and communities repropressure and climate change necessitating duce their own culture? densification in the inner city, gentrification becomes inevitable. However, the resulting developments often lack a sense of community, leading to isolation and exclusivity. This project aims to address these challenges and unify diverse cultures under the umbrella of specific neighborhoods, such as Bullewijk, undergoing redevelopment and gentrification.
PRODUCTS
ANALYSIS ANALYSIS (demographic data)
INTERVIEWS Key Questions: - What lessons can we learn from past experiences? - How can we represent culture in redevelopment? - How do existing identities merge with new ones? - How can cultural reproduction be integrated into urban design?
Celebrative repetitiveness
PARTICIPATION
repetition
To foster an inclusive process, various stakeholders at different scales, including art organizations, housing companies, educational institutions, neighborhood centers, and citizens, will play pivotal roles. The project will explore how cultural reproduction is expressed in the urban space and how the urban space can facilitate cultural reproduction. The goal is to create an open, inclusive environment that nurtures a multicultural urban culture—a hallmark of an open society and a healthy human habitat. The research began with a personal exploration of cultural reproduction using drawing as a medium. The visual representation of the city was used to investigate the concept. Visual explorations and sketches were created to uncover the commonalities among people of different cultures, which can improve social relations and the city itself. The core of the project involves making art to enhance the city. This will include participatory workshops and the creation of a wooden model representing the need for cultural and inter cultural spaces. The research will culminate in an exhibition showcasing an urban vision for a multicultural city, with a focus on the neighborhood of Bullewijk. This vision will highlight the importance of cultural reproduction in shaping the Multicultural City.
ART
VISUAL EXPLORATIONS @ ART RESIDENCY CBK ZUIDOOST
REALITY
VISION GEMEENTE AMSTERDAM
should brings variation
repetition
might bring variation
repetition
can bring variation
repetition
will bring variation
repetition
is
variation
LEIDEN • THE NETHERLANDS
THE TRIBUNE ON RHINE THE
URBAN VISION • BURA • 2019
“De Tribune aan de Rijn” ,Wernink Terrein, Leiden BURA Urbanism BURA is asked by the municipality of Leiden to develop a vision (Gebied visie) on the Wernink location. The area is located directly along the Rhine river, close to the historical inner city of Leiden. The site has great potential to be transformed into a lively housing area (ca. 600 dwellings), with additional working and recreational functions. The project area has multiple characteristic spatial features that give identity to the place. The rather narrow project area of 3,4 hectares is the location of the former concrete factory ‘Wernink’. The factory is not in use anymore, but the site still contains interesting industrial remnants. The 400-meter-long waterfront offers the possibility to transform the banks into a lively public space with urban activities. The vision will contain a set of ambitions and a concrete proposal for a flexible spatial framework for development.
ROTTERDAM • THE NETHERLANDS
CENTRUM VAN ZUID URBAN VISION • BURA • 2019
“Centrum van Zuid”, Rotterdam, BURA Urbanism On behalf of the municipality of Rotterdam, BURA defined a future vision for Centrum van Zuid in Rotterdam. The project area is known as an important transport hub in the Rotterdam region, for its nationally recognized entertainment center and as one of the fastest growing shopping centers in the Netherlands. The area also contains important educational, cultural and sports facilities of Rotterdam South. However, due to the presence of many large-scale buildings and infrastructure, the area lacks human
1: 2000
scale, connection with surrounding neighborhoods, attractive public spaces and a healthy living-working environment.
GORINCHEM • THE NETHERLANDS
DE VLEUGELS VAN GORINCHEM URBAN VISION • BURA • 2019
“De Vleugels van Gorinchem” BURA Urbanism The municipality of Gorinchem asked BURA to develop a programmatic vision for the harbor area of Gorinchem. The vision includes the preservation of the historical center, energy transition, and auto-free Binnenstad. “De Vleugels” is considered the next stratic intervention around the city center, on important and historical dykes, including the station gebied, the highway connecting to Zuid Holland, the natural area of Waterlinie, and the redevelopment of the industrial areas into Woon-werk gebieden.
GENOVA • ITALY
IL FILO DELLA CITTÀ COMPETITION • ART OF CITIES • 2022
“Il Filo della Città” Genova Genova has been represented in its morphology as an archetype, using a metaphor: “An amphitheater on the sea”. Protagonists are the port and the historic centre, which as actors entertain the entirety of the public from the front rows of the historic villages, to the modernist gallery, and the inevitable hills, which “push” the architecture of the city and its inhabitants to actively collaborate in collective awareness and finally to walk the thread of the city. By imagining and following the thread, the spatial and temporal reality of Genoa gets revealed: an urban entity shaped as a thin strip of life between the hills and the sea that retains a strong cultural identity.
TARQUINIA • ITALY
THE SOLVED CITY VISUAL EXPLORATION •ART OF CITIES • 2021
“The Solved City” is a visual narration to allow and practice imagination. It is an urban dream about how to recover the historical heritage, in a contemporary and human way. It raises the question and consideration for a revolutionary yet lightweight restoration. The empty, white space on the first image represents the non-considered areas that could be open for new opinions. Resulting in the contemplation that water, vegetation, and agriculture can serve as the new and old devices for an healthy and lively city. It is a reflection of how visual representation can guide the transformation of space, society, and cultural values.
AMSTERDAM • THE NETHERLANDS
NATURA SOLA MAGISTRA COMPETITION •ART OF CITIES • 2021
“Natura Sola Magistra” Amsterdam Isn’t it ironic that in a manmade region such as Holland, the word and the entity of Nature are of great importance for the livability, health, and happiness of their inhabitants? Probably not. What is exceptional in Amsterdam is the high quality of certain spaces that are inevitably dictated by natural elements: water and vegetation. Not surprisingly, those are the basic features for life on earth, and now finally (again) for sustaining life in a city: the preferred human environment. Amsterdam is represented by the teaching of Nature: Water canalization for mobility and balancing with the low land. Vegetation for soil maintenance, air mitigation, and a necessary spiritual presence. The lesson that Amsterdam learned from nature consists of hidden gestures operated by engineering and urban design. Poetry and technique merged in a great urban environment. The postcards represent three symbolic and provocative interventions necessary to improve the natural city we all like to live in. The covering of the A10 ring generates new spaces for leisure and decreases unhealthy mobility emissions. A multi-layered natural park behind Central Station in order to compensate for the forthcoming growth. The urban densification by the literal gesture of replication of the canal house typology. With the addition of an intermediate layer of glasshouses to increase horticulture and self-production awareness.
ROTTERDAM • THE NETHERLANDS
THE UNEXPECTED MILE ACADEMIC PROJECT • 2018
“The Unexpected Mile” Academie van Bouwkunst The Amsterdam harbor transformation plan necessitates high-density urban development over 7 million square meters, prioritizing water quality and the connection between the old and new harbors. This involves linear development to reclaim water space, ensure visibility, and foster unique interactions.
Roof
4
3
“The Unexpected Mile” urban structure represents diversity and community in a growing city through mobility by land, ramps, and water. Weather and water play a crucial role in creating a new tradition that accommodates differences.
2
1
Citizens purchase plots, building houses in synergy with neighbors based on their interaction preferences. The focus is on a public rooftop park for viewing, gathering, relaxation, and meetings. “Super functions” are housed on the roof. Small typologies add unexpected vibrancy and diversity to the approximately one-kilometer-long, 40-meter-wide structure. Irony and cultural exchange are anticipated, while the social composition of residential units remains unexpected.
0
water
ramp
crossing
public s. 1284 m
10 m
6m
a
b
c
d
e
f
6m
6,5 m
12 m
4,5 m
12 m
g
h
i
l
m
n
8m
8m
12 m
a
195 m²
c
250 m²
e
145 m²
g
170 m²
i
170 m²
m
50 m²
public s.
patios
park FLOORPLANS
AMSTERDAM - MILAN
WORKSHOPS PARTICIPATIVE WORKSHOPS
Workshop(s) During the development of my practice:
“Art of Cities,” I began familiarizing myself with the tools of participatory workshops. I honed my ability to guide, design, and organize various methods to stimulate others’ imagination and act as a mediator between people, residents, city users, designers, and developers. My work experience with Play the City in Amsterdam further strengthened this approach. “Design spaces means designing behaviors!”
One significant initiative in this journey was an annual start workshop at the Academie van Bouwkunst in Amsterdam, characterized by its commitment to zero waste, sustainability, and an informal approach to fostering initial interactions among participants. “Inter/Action,” it offered a guided exploration of Amsterdam with the support of performative arts and engagement of the five senses. Five inspirational individuals, Rebecca Wijnruit, Laura Bolscher, Alessandro Solci, Joana Guinè, and Ilaria Lusetti, significantly contributed to the realization of this performative tour. The core belief behind this initiative is that experiencing specific emotions in various urban spaces can cultivate the sensitivity necessary for becoming a skilled designer. New students were encouraged to interact with each other through the physical exploration of urban, architectural, and urban landscapes. Remarkably, the human body served as the primary tool for this exploration, and no materials or waste were utilized or generated in the process.