Every Color is Green… in Rome.

Over 350 architects attended the meeting “Every Color is Green” organized by Akzo Nobel in collaboration with Ordine degli Architetti di Roma at the wonderful location of “La Casa dell’Architettura”. The second successful meeting devoted to the role of colour in architecture after the one held in 2012 at Ordine degli Architetti di Milano.

The conference was opened by Arturo Livio Sacchi, President of Ordine degli Architetti di Roma, followed by Daniela Proietti, counselor, who stressed the communication and symbolic value of colour and mentioned some well-known examples (among these Kilometro Rosso by Jean Nouvel, covered with Akzo Nobel’s coatings).
Renata Sias, editor of WOW! and chairman, pointed out how Colour is an ephemeral yet “essential” element of architecture at the same time, and the public conversation with Ton Büchner, president and CEO, Akzo Nobel and Rem Koolhaas, curator of 14a Biennale di Architettura di Venezia, that opened the last Biennale exhibition in Venice “Fundamentals”.
Simone Zaccaria
, Business Manager Interpon, proudly announced the opening of  Powder Technology Center, at Cernobbio and stressed the importance of training and steady research, core of Akzo Nobel’s philosophy and absolutely necessary to offer innovative and sustainable technological solutions to meet the necessities of architecture and interior design.
Michelangelo Pajno, Business Manager Sikkens, talked about Sustainability Akzo Nobel’s main mission (first place at Dow Jones Sustainability Index) and presented Human Cities Manifesto by Akzo Nobel launched on the occasion of last Biennale di Venezia.
Lia  Luzzatto, color designer and teacher, proposed a brief excursus on the meaning of green and blue in historical cultures; images and archetypes of a symbolism greatly linked to nature, now the flag of an eco-sustainable awareness and a life style. Green and blue come up again as a new way of thinking and making, to create one conceptual category only: breen.
Aldo Bottoli, perception designer, explained that every colour is “green”, when it can offer the wealth of information we find in nature, with reference to the instinctual, perceptive condition.
Federico Lardera, architect,related the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna di Roma Gnam, project and how it solved the problem of the background colour in exhibitions of pictorial or sculptural works, that changes into a complex syntactic structure where these works are connected.

The “technical” aspects of  the painting products were discussed  by two experts.
Tullio Rossini
European R&D manager Akzo Nobel for powder coatings, explained how powder coating technology enables to develop a very wide range of hues, effects and finishes, where the “play” of colour can also take features of ecology, economy and sustainability, hard to obtain through other kinds of process.
Pragmatically, Mario Contini, Coordinator Team PSC Centro-Sud Italia Akzo Nobel Coatings, coherently with the vision of Green Economy, proved how building sustainability can improve through the use of special materials and targeted technologies. Like helping to save energy (Sikkens Renovatherm Energy, developed in collaboration with Eni Versalis), to improve air quality (Alpha Aeroxane, photocatalityc covering) or to reduce the use of power providing good lighting performances (Alpha LumiMax Mat SF).
Virginia Rossini, responsible of “Beni Culturali” Department Ordine di Roma, expounded some considerations about projects concerning historic buildings and use of new technologies.
Patrizia Colletta, responsible of Sustainability Department Ordine di Roma, brought the attention back to the focus of the meeting, that is the fundamental value of sustainability, the core of a first-rate architectural project and a component  that can add value to the designer’s role, provided it isn’t just a mere Green Washing.