VITA – THE WORD TO AFRICA

This is one of the results brought by the workshop led by DONTSTOP within the CAMon! project promoted by the NGO COE.

The textures of the LABA students of Douala in Cameroon, “dress” Erin Dwia’s illustration for the cover of VITA, the monthly magazine whose April issue is entirely dedicated to Africa. The works produced for the AfroFashion competition are by Mbakop Arnauld, Mbang Abwa Asser Dieudonne and Sohmbe Tamba.

The exhibition gives evidence of the research and training currently underway at the LABA (Libre Académie des Beaux-Arts) art academy in Douala – Cameroon’s booming economic capital city – which aims to build a contemporary Cameroonian approach in the world of visual art, fashion, graphics and design.  On the occasion of the Biennial of the Cities of Favara Cultural Park, a selection of projects made within the framework of the CamON! program between 2018 and 2019 by students of the academy were exhibited.

A tool of knowledge and relationship with others since childhood, play can also be a formidable design method in the field of design: talking about play is talking about design, and vice versa. From this premise were born the workshops led by Michele Brunello, Marco Brega, Andrea Angeli and the team of Dontstop Architettura within CAMon! Promoting art and culture: capacity building, social enterprise and education in Cameroon, which involved the students of the LABA – Libre Académie des Beaux-arts Douala in Cameroon. The project was promoted and coordinated by the Association Centro Orientamento Educativo – COE and supported by AICS – Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Through Stefano Graziani’s photographs, the book presents the 12 games created by the students’ work, while the texts by Michele Brunello, Paul-Henri Souvenir Assako, Prashanth Cattaneo, Lionel Manga, Iolanda Pensa and Luca Fois approach the theme of the game from different perspectives, highlighting the relationship between design, education and cooperation. The account of the experience and methodology followed in the workshop is set in the current creative scene in Douala, a recently expanding metropolis and economic centre of the country.

The exhibition “How do you play” collected a selection of 12 objects inspired by the theme of the game, developed by the designers of the LABA Academy in Douala, the main urban centre of Cameroon. The exhibition was the final stage of a design training course led by Dontstop Architettura, as part of the “CAMon! Promoting art and culture: capacity building, social enterprise and education in Cameroon”, coordinated by the COE Association and supported by AICS – Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, aimed at cultural promotion through the creation of a HUB integrating tradition and technological innovation.

Noi – Libreria spazio culturale di vicinato is a bookshop specializing in illustrated books, for this particular type of book Dontstop has created shelves and mobile bookcases specially designed to best display the covers and make visible the drawings.

Milano Animal City is an exhibition/research curated by the students of the Urbanism and Urban Design courses 2015 and 2016 at Politecnico di Milano by profs. Stefano Boeri and Michele Brunello. Milano Animal City presents suggestions and visions for the ri-colonisation by animal and vegetal species of the milanese urban environment. Milano Animal City looks, indeed, to the city of Milan starting from the point of view of the animals that inhabit it, designing new spaces of reciprocity among human and animal species.

The project involves the study of the elements dedicated to the selfie area for the fans visiting the Appiano Gentile Sports Center. The different set-ups allow FC internazionale fans to play with the shapes and elements using them as sets for their shots and the subsequent sharing of images on social networks.

The project answers the question “How can design improve the urban environment, the city and our life?”

Red Star Design Park defines a new model for a new lifestyle based on design 4.0, which contains principles of sharing and circular economy and good design practices. The overlapping masterplan: A structure composed of public functions gathered in flexible pavilions, the grouping of a community with different lifestyles that benefits from innovative community services, the design of a large green park.

The intervention for the apartment  in Piazza Repubblica starts from the owner’s need to have more privacy from the entrance to the sleeping area and the desire to create a walk-in closet.

The rooms involved are the entrance and the hallway of the sleeping area, the bedroom and the children’s little bathroom.

The design in contemporary, with neutral colors and linear forms, while for the children’s bathroom it is more colorful and playful with Fornasetti’s wall coverings.

The project involves the upgrading of Palazzo Bragadin in Mestre and the subsequent transformation of the building into a Boutique hotel. The Dontstop architettura intervention also includes the design of interior spaces and the choice of all the furnishing elements.