University of Milan During Design Week, 2009

Seriously, everyone is up against superhuman Italian conceptualizer/artist Leonardo de Vinci with his Mona Lisa, Last Supper and his plans for a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a calculator, and an outlined rudimentary theory of plate tectonics. And that was 500 years ago!
But you have plans for the latest and greatest green solar commune lounge. That's nice. But it's not stopping students of the University of Milan, a leading institute in Italy and Europe for scientific productivity, and professional designers from trying to develop the next best thing. As part of Milan Design Week, the Uni put on quite a show in their courtyards: large installations that focused on energy in terms of smart and sutainable use, with attention focused on the home, the city and landscape. But also energy "as a creative process, a project attitude which in not - or is no longer typical of a group of professionals since it is now a commonly shared thought."

Surrounded by the college's historical architecture you could find sustainable, ecological architecture and new inventions by Italian and international designers such as Mauricio Cardenas, Marco Piva, Luca Trazzi and David Chipperfield. The daytime offered relaxing strolls through the exhibitions, but at night, the place was lit up like a rock show, with thousands of revelers packing the halls.