Introducing, Paola Antonelli

The real purpose of the GreenZoneSolution is to bring together great ideas around how to approach complicated matters concerning health, safety and security and propose solutions that are sustainable and renewable without compromising function or appearance. I hope with the work I am putting into this project will introduce different groups of people to one another and eventually start a conversation of sorts where the topics can range from preparedness to sustainability and focus on ways to make these things aesthetically pleasing and function well together. Much of what I am presenting here are not my original ideas but I am just connecting them together in a way that I hope can generate productive though and solve problems in creative ways for many people.

With that in mind, I hope to be able to call attention to people that in some circles are very familiar - famous even - but in other settings may be a completely unknown. I hope by introducing these people I do not come off as anything other than I have described above because, as the saying goes, these people need no introduction...

Introducing, Paola Antonelli

 as photgraphed for an article in FastCompany Magazine article - Oct 2007

The wikipedia entry on Paola Antonelli is surprisingly brief but still very impressive:

Paola Antonelli is one of the world's foremost design experts and was recently rated as one of the top one hundred most powerful people in the world of art by Art Review. She is a Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art.

Better, and more descriptive is a brief paragraph is from Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED):

Paola Antonelli is on a mission to introduce -- and explain -- design to the world. With her shows at New York's Museum of Modern Art, she celebrates design's presence in every part of life. Since she stepped back from practicing architecture in order to focus on writing about design, teaching and curating gallery exhibitions, Italian native Paola Antonelli has become a force to be reckoned with in the design world. Working at the Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1994, she now heads up the gallery's Architecture and Design department and has worked on shows such as "Humble Masterpieces," which celebrated traditionally unheralded design icons such as the paperclip; "Safe," considering issues of protection, and "Workspheres," a look at contemporary workplace design.

But what these brief descriptions of Paola don't even begin to touch upon is her deep understanding of what I have come to call the GreenZoneSolution. I first became aware of her when I read about an exhibit she had organized at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City called, SAFE: Design Takes on Risk. I missed the exhibit, but fortunately a book was published with the same title. The title alone should say it all (it does to me). The exhibit ran at MOMA at the end of 2005 and there is still an excellent website dedicated to sharing just a few of the highlights. If your background is in disaster planning or sustainable design, please take a minute or two to sit back and just check out this interactive website with an open mind. The approach may be a little artsy for you but the products and concepts are rock solid. Just a few of that caught my eye that manage to span disaster mitigation and renewable resources:

• Raincoat made from a recycled sugar shack designed to be used in poorer parts of the world.
• Hand crank powered cell phone charger
• Low cost, low maintenance, combination wind/solar pump kit designed to assist with water distribution in areas where power is not available

Dozen of ideas - some in production, some prototypes, some bordering on science fiction - but all based in preparedness and solid design.

A one minute explanation from Paola Antonelli on the importance of design in all areas of planning.  How could you use these ideas in projects you are working on?

There is more to say about Paola and her perspective on design and preparedness. As I continue with this project, I will most certainly be making references to her and her work and the other people I have discovered as a result of reading her books and listening to her speak. I hope she would understand the intersection that I am examining here: Renewable, Reliable and Remarkable