Innovation Beauty Inspiration. This is the title of the event on space design organized on 4 February by the Italian Embassy in Vienna and by the Italian Permanent Mission to the UN in collaboration with the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI). An initiative aiming to highlight the merging and application to the space sector of technological innovation and design, two paramount examples of Italian excellence. The event featured the multimedia exhibition Design Spaziale – Italiano, promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
After London, Prague and Paris, Vienna is the latest stop of this travelling exhibition, created by Annalisa Dominoni and Benedetto Quaquaro, professors of the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano, where space design is the subject of a unique master degree course.
The event was held on the occasion of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) at the premises of ESPI, a key think-tank for space policies. It was an opportunity to present to space agencies and to the diplomatic and scientific community the essence of space design, defined by the Politecnico professors as a bridge between “science, technology, innovation and beauty”.
The professors of Politecnico di Milano, who collaborate with leading space design companies such as Thales Alenia Space, highlighted the importance of space design, showing how ad hoc designed rooms and objects can help to improve the quality of life and the performance of astronauts in orbit and, in a near future, on the Moon. The value of this approach was also confirmed by the event’s guest of honor, astronaut Luca Parmitano, who shared his experience underlining the positive impact of design on the living conditions on the International Space Station.
A representative of the stile and design industry, Alexandra Lupas, Corporate Projects Director of PRADA, also took part in the event, describing the collaboration with American company Axiom Space for the creation of the new spacesuits that will be used in NASA’s Artemis III mission – another tangible example of Italian excellence in design for space, which was revealed for the first time at the International Astronautical Congress in Milan last October.
Among the event guests was also UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini, who delivered opening remarks alongside Italy’s Ambassador to Austria Giovanni Pugliese, Italy’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, Ambassador Debora Lepre, and ESPI Director Hermann Ludwig Moeller.
