ANUMANI
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
ANUMANI, a mix of animals and humans, is a concept that lays the foundations of a newfound bond between man and other species. Interiors, developing like landscapes, offer users the opportunity to use their imagination and escape their usual behavioral patterns. People might find themselves working together like ants or gathering in nests like parrots. Only by experimenting with unusual points of view it will be possible to rediscover what consolidated habits have long hidden.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
2020 has placed the Sapiens in front of a rebellious reality and forced them to reflect upon their role in natural ecosystems. Starting from a feeling of interconnection, ANUMANI tries to lay the foundations of a newfound bond beyond the limits among species. An abandoned building is redesigned to become the centre of promotion of a new sociality in which humans are inspired to change their behaviors. The correlation between the different hosted functions are knitted together like a natural ecosystem and rooms are furnished like landscapes, allowing people to explore different habitats.
Key objectives for sustainability
The main purpose behind ANUMANI is to bring awareness to the relation between humans and their surroundings. For too long the "negative narcissism" of Sapiens has been leading them to consider themselves the highest point of creation. Instead, the anthropocene has clearly shown that they can be the most lethal cause of destruction. Following this ideal, all the objects and materials included remind of natural elements, avoiding as much as possible the use of synthetic components. The selected materials come from sustainable sources and are used in their raw form, without finishes that would cover their real essence.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The design was inspired by natural environments, translating its elements and atmospheres in furniture and lighting. The aim is to interrupt the logical connection between human needs and their consequent translation into usual objects, thus breaking the bond between work and desk, library and shelves, cinema and armchair.
All of the products are modular and scalable, allowing a certain randomized harmony. All heights and dimensions have been defined to increase the variability of the landscapes and to guarantee universal accessibility.
Key objectives for inclusion
Being inspired by ecosystems, the project fosters the inclusion and cooperation between different species. This is a narrative that works both for the protection of the diversities and their integration in virtuos systems. The concept can be applied to any reality to show that divergences, if inserted in a complex system, can be a fertile base for the birth of new visions.
Results in relation to category
ANUMANI defines new ways of behaving and building relationships with others that are inspired by ethology. The narration defined by the design of the spaces speaks about landscapes in which animals perform their vital functions beside different species, finding infinite ways to integrate their needs can inspire a new vision of society. As in natural ecosystems, communities would thrive on diversity, if only they were used to see them as enriching elements.
How Citizens benefit
The project has been done completely online, during the first lockdown of 2020. Therefore nobody could be involved, but the seven designers that were analyzing their reactions to the sudden switch in human priorities, and imagined which new way of socializing this consciousness would have brought.
Innovative character
ANUMANI was born in a period where Nature put Sapiens activities on hold. While humans were stuck in their homes terrified by a virus, animals came back to the silent cities from which they were previously expelled. The innovation is the subliminal new humanism prompted by the spaces. Man is put in a wider context than the one he was used to live in. He is no longer the sovereign of the Earth, but he is its inhabitant just like all the other species.
