Huge success for the second edition of the Italian Design Day in Beijing.
1st March 2018, the second Italian Design Day in the world, organized by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affair and International Cooperation together with Italian Cultural Institutes (IIC) kicked off in more than 100 cities all around the world.
Massimo Roj, Progetto CMR Global CEO, was invited as the Ambassador of Italian Design in Beijing. The Italian Embassy in China together ICC organized activities along two days, intensively talking about Italian Design. Starting from a lecture, at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFAM), passing through a cultural mind exchange at the Institute of Italian Culture and ending with a high level round table discussion at the Italian Embassy.
Mr. Roj’s lecture at CAFAM focused on the relationship between architecture, beauty and art and, in particular, on the role that the architect takes on society and the context in which it operates. At the end of the conference, the public enthusiastically participated in a Q & A that touched on all the most important aspects of making architecture: respect for the environment, relations with the client, comparison between modernity and tradition.
At the Italian Cultural Institute, in the afternoon of the same day, a round table brought together Italian and Chinese experts and academics, to share the different experiences and challenges that design is facing today. In front of an audience of architects, designers, press and professionals (200 people in the hall and more than 3,000 others connected in streaming on the Zai Yi platform), architect Roj, Professor Yang Dongjiang (deputy director of Tsinghua University Art Museum and chief editor of the magazine “Interni”), the designer Frank Chou and Angelo Cecchini (Chief Representative in China of “Leonardo”, a leading company in the aerospace sector) discussed in an event moderated by the deputy director of Beijing Design Week, Vittorio Sun Qun. Mr Roj pointed out that Human Being must always be the central point of design process no matter is product or building even the master planning, being as an architect should consider the requirements of people, the surrounded environment and the society effects. Mr Roj gave examples at different scales: from an object, “Eggboard”, the light fitting by Artemide; to a building, “UniPol Sai HQ”, a renovation project in Milan, and finally to urban scale, the environmental friendly masterplan of “Xiantao big data Valley”, in Chongqing.
The last, but not less important, activity of Italian Design Day celebration in Beijing was “The New Era of China Urban Development” high level discussion. A close door business oriented roundtable, hosted by Italian Embassy, where Italian and Chinese stakeholders (Institutions, Gov. Agencies, Industry Association and Academia) gathered together with the “Italian Design Ambassador”, Massimo Roj. A real “integrated approach” to discuss about challenges, opportunities then concrete cooperation between Italy and China in the path of sustainable urban development.
