Most challenges do not emerge as visible crises. Instead, they develop quietly, absorbed into daily routines and normalized over time. As processes repeat and systems remain in place, Christopher Nurre, founder of Parata Solutions, observes that industries can gradually become conditioned to operate around inefficiencies or risks, particularly when longstanding practices go unchallenged.
“Innovation, in this context, is often less about creating something entirely new and more about recognizing what has been overlooked,” Nurre says. “Many problems persist in plain sight, not because they lack solutions, but because they have been accepted as part of the operational landscape.”
Long before Parata existed, he was close to a tragic, high-rise, exterior glass incident in 1999, an event he explains as deeply formative and difficult to forget. Rather than viewing it as an isolated misfortune, Nurre came to see it as evidence of a broader, overlooked vulnerability within the built environment. He reflects that the more troubling realization was not only the loss itself but how quickly such incidents can be absorbed into the background of everyday life without prompting deeper examination or preventative change.
The idea that eventually became Parata Solutions carries its purpose in its very name. Parata, derived from the Latin word parta, meaning ‘to produce,’ reflects the core ethos the brand was created to embody.
The company focused on designing automated window shade systems, which did not arrive as a polished concept or immediate business plan. Nurre explains it as a slow-forming conviction, shaped over years spent working across commercial construction, real estate, industrial design, and facility management. This experience was further empowered by an incredibly experienced team of executives, including his business partners Dick Co, PhD, and mechanical engineer Robert Kearns. According to him, the challenge was not only identifying a safety-related problem but understanding why proposed fixes so often failed to gain traction.
“There’s little value in creating a solution that improves safety if it is not realistic for organizations to adopt and implement at scale,” Nurre says. “True innovation has to bridge the gap between what is possible in theory and what can actually work in practice. LEDs truly revolutionized energy consumption within the built environment, and we are simply doing the same thing with our shade systems.”
That realization led to what Nurre has noted as a three-part requirement for any viable solution: it needed to improve safety, contribute to operational efficiency, particularly around energy, and make financial sense for building owners. Without all three elements working together, he believes even well-intentioned ideas would remain theoretical. From his perspective, safety solutions that ignore cost realities rarely move beyond pilot stages, while efficiency upgrades that overlook risk fail to address the full picture.
Parata Solutions ultimately emerged around this framework. The company focuses on window shade systems designed for large commercial and high-rise buildings, an area Nurre felt was often underestimated. He explains that traditional shade installations can compromise the very integrity of the building itself. Rather than framing this as a flaw of any one approach, Nurre characterizes it as a design assumption that went largely unexamined.
From his viewpoint, the problem was not simply mechanical. Windows sit at the intersection of safety, comfort, and energy performance, yet shading systems were often treated as cosmetic add-ons rather than functional components of the building envelope. Unlike traditional systems, Parata’s was developed to avoid penetrating the critical glass and metal infrastructure, known as the curtain wall, while also supporting temperature control at the interior perimeter, where heat gain and loss tend to concentrate.
He emphasizes that Parata invested in third-party testing and its built-in research environment to better understand how the system performed in real-world conditions. “Anyone can say something works,” he says. “What matters is whether the data supports it.” According to Nurre, that evidence-based approach was essential for conversations with architects, engineers, and building owners who are accountable for long-term outcomes.
“The system itself is motorized and designed to integrate with Building Automation Systems, allowing shades to respond dynamically based on occupancy and conditions, alongside timed schedules,” Nurre says. He explains this as a way to reduce unnecessary energy demand without requiring occupants to manually intervene. From his perspective, automation is not about adding complexity, but about removing friction from decisions people already expect buildings to make.
The company’s design approach has also received industry recognition. Parata Solutions earned Gold in the Chicago Design Awards, being chosen as one of the top 200 designs in the world, an acknowledgment Nurre views as validation of solutions that balance safety, performance, and architectural design.
Looking forward, Nurre has spoken about the role of connected buildings in demand-response strategies, where automated systems help balance energy use during peak periods. He explains this as a practical extension of responsible design. “If a building can do its part without compromising safety or comfort, that’s meaningful progress,” he says. This response becomes more necessary when you take the current business landscape into perspective. Nurre adds, “Demand response, when utilized by building owners, tenants, and utility companies, is becoming more than a nice-to-have; it’s becoming a necessity.”
Ultimately, Nurre’s story circles back to where innovation begins by noticing what others accept. In his view, meaningful change does not come from chasing novelty, but from questioning the everyday, validating assumptions, and staying committed long enough to turn overlooked problems into practical solutions.
“Innovation begins the moment we stop accepting things as they are,” Nurre says. “When we choose to question what’s in front of us, we open the door to making our environments safer, efficient, and financially viable.”
