LAB DESIGN
Scenarios & Props
Gli studenti italiani e internazionali di design hanno incontrato le associazioni Nuovo Armenia e Asnada ed hanno progettato e prototipato attività e servizi che arricchiranno l’offerta di Nuovo Armenia presso la cascina di Via Livigno 9 nei confronti dei suoi pubblici. Sono stati elaborati progetti di scenari d’uso dello spazio foyer/bar e concept del mercato/agorà.
PROGETTO 1PROGETTO 2PROGETTO 3PROGETTO 4PROGETTO 5PROGETTO 9PROGETTO 11
CASCINA 9
Nuove connessioni
Chiara Cantù, Danila Ainio, Duan Zhipeng, Edith Rangel Gonzales,
Emma Sicher, Liying Huang, Nadejda Cervinscaia, Quinbao Tu
Ogni Paese ha una storia da raccontare. Il progetto propone un Festival delle Fiabe per il centro culturale Nuovo Armenia, presso la cascina di Via Livigno 9 a Milano. Il festival è basato su racconti e leggende tipiche di diverse culture ed attività creative e legate alle tradizioni e alle diverse culture alimentari.
MINI-DOC
Walking through a tree-lined trail, we find a farmhouse camouflaged by nature that shows an aged character reinforced by its textures, damages and rust covered structures. It is raining heavily, people pass by in a hurry, we ask “Do you know CASCINA 9?” They answer: “No”. People enter Cascina 9 and the heartbeat pounds from slow to fast, it is a living space where people’s differences disappear to become one unique entity. A man talks about Cascina as a community that gathers and exchanges skills, as a place that develops connections and where everything is linked. The skills become a common string that generates sounds and resonance. Rhythm increases as well as the interactions inside Cascina 9 and culture, companionship and joy fill the atmosphere that eclipses the crude conditions of the interior space. Cascina 9 embodies a shelter for everybody.
SCENARIO
The video starts with a flashback: Lili discovers something but in order to understand the story, the video goes back to 9 hours before. In the morning Lili receives an invitation message from her friend Luca asking if she wants to join him to an event in Cascina 9. So, she reaches Cascina 9 with a book, which is the access ticket for the event. After she enters, she gives the book to the staff desk and she gets the Pinocchio Treasure Hunt map and the first clue. She joins a team where she meets new people from different countries. While looking for the clues, Lili discovers the activities of Cascina 9 (e.g. wood lab, film projections, and workshops). So, she finds a craftsman who gives her the second clue. The Treasure Hunt is challenging but, despite this, her team wins the game. Free meal-and- drink tickets are the prizes for the winners. In the evening, she scrolls the Instagram page and thinks about the memories of the day. Finally, she likes the post which promotes the next event: “Rabbit on the Moon”.
CASCINA 9 CAFE
A cup gathering them all
Daniela Álvarez Lleras, Maria Colafiglio, Mingrui Dai, Sheila Emmenegger, Christian Guerra Paola Guerra, Giulia Mangolini, Chiara Lenna
MINI-DOC “Cascina 9, the meeting point”
By using events’ videos, interviews and fictional conversations, this video-essay reveals an overview of Cascina 9 and the three main aspects identified during the research phase for the Cafè Project. “Renovation”, “The New Locals” and “the Meeting Point” are the main topics that will define the following path to take for this project where Cascina is the meeting point among languages and spaces, where everyone becomes a local.
SCENARIO “A cup gathering them all”
The video narrates, through the technique of paper-cut stop motion, the story of three characters gathering in Cascina 9. They represent three different customer profiles, and interact within the Cascina. The Aim of this video is to present the concept of “A Cup Gathering Them All”: it consists of a new payment system for the sustainability of the whole Cascina and in particular for the Café. The concept grants the usual cash payment, implemented with a donation system and adds two more possibilities: paying by volunteering and buying a membership card. These alternative payment methods will help Cascina to be sustainable over time, be more visible in the city and grow in terms of a volunteering community.
CASCINA 9
The Seeds of Culture
Riccardo Agosto, Samuele Baruzzi, Rongrong Chen, Akanksha Gupta Hiroki Ishii, Pongpath Pongsupath, Marco Raffaello, Eva Youngsin Han
MINI-DOC “THE PLACE”
“The Place” is a mini-doc video that aim to describe in a synthetic way Cascina 9, the environment where the ex-farmhouse is situated and its opportunities.
CONCEPT. Openness to different cultures and aims of create a community fully integrated in the perspective of time and people, including pro and cons of Cascina 9.
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STRUCTURE. The narration is divided in three parts and a conclusion.
At the beginning, Milan is introduced and rapidly the motion picture moves to Dergano and District 9, representing the people, the architecture and the overall status quo of the area.
Moving on, the mid part describes Cascina 9 as it is during an event, in this case held by Nuovo Armenia. Even here, emphasize is put on people and the noble mission of this activity introduced as a local hero. However, the farmhouse is contrasted with the local environment during the daily routine. Subsequently a comparison between the active district and the frozen abandoned dairy is made, enhancing the poor vision that people have of this place from the outside.
In the end, a bright light of hope emphasizes the opportunity of this location for the future vision.
TECHNIQUE. The video is mainly shot with the documentary technique. People, objects and environments are used to represent concepts, ideas and feeling, making the clip more emotional then descriptive. A short interview was taken to Jo Azer, the guest film director invited for the event. He is a triple stakeholder because he is a participant, a creator and a foreigner, so his narration is critical to understand the whole picture. In the end, a basic animation introduces the scenario that will be developed later.
SCENARIO “THE SEEDS OF CULTURE”
“The seeds of culture” is a short animation that would represent the evolution from the actual situation on Dergano and Cascina 9 to the scenario we envisioned in the future. Hence, a place where everyone, independently from ethnicity, culture or passion, could share his/her own personality with other interested in the same topic, organizing activities in a hub or simply joining them.
CONCEPT. The world of Cascina 9, Dergano and District 9 are translated into a parallel one populated by funny colourful characters. However, in this reality Cascina 9 is not there, but the concept is in the air. Indeed, a magic pomegranate is the metaphor of what Cascina 9 will be in the future and it grows in the courtyard of Via Livigno. The story tells how the dwellers, before divided in their ethnic group, start cooperating (to break the pomegranate that means renovate Cascina 9) and build a truly local community (that means creating the seeds, small hubs, where locals can share their passion) using the services provided by the ex-farmhouse (book and rent these hubs to organize classes or workshop giving a fee to C9 from their income).
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STRUCTURE. The narration is divided in three parts and a conclusion.
Firstly, the city landscape is introduced and showing some shops the multiculturality of the district is represent. Then, the four main characters enter in order: Huiran, the couple of kids, Yasser and Michele, showing the different kind of people living the neighbourhood. However, each community is divided and life goes on lonely.
Secondly, a magic pomegranate starts growing in a park, becoming giant, bigger than a skyscraper. Inhabitants gather around the fruit and try to break it on their own, after they have seen something glowing and emitting sounds (frying, film projector,hammerhitandchalkonaboard) from the inside. However, it is impossible.
The only way is to cooperate. Doing it and working all night long, they are able to break the shell finally. During the common experience, links are created between people, using common languages and sharing the effort (try to find ideas to break the pomegranate, preparing food, singing together).
At the end, from the mutant fruit many seeds come out. They start glowing again and the characters enter inside them and understand that only now they can share their passion in a fruitful way.
The motion picture ends with the transformation of the seeds into Cascina 9 representing the reality of this project. Indeed, using common languages will possible, even with just the actual capabilities of the promoters, to create a solid community for the broader future of this vision (for example, organizing a cooking class to learn Italian language).
To conclude, another pomegranate glows in a new place, meaning that these seeds could be planted everywhere outside the Cascina in the future.
TECHNIQUE. The video is realised in 2D animation based on the style of the popular game ‘Dumbs Way to Die’. It helps to detach the concepts from the reality, even if the link is clear. Solely, the pomegranate and the seeds are photos, because actually, they represent Cascina 9 that is real.
CASCINA 9
Bring energy back to Nuovo Armenia
Beyza Ayhan, Nikolai Avgerinos, Martina Barri. Yuenan Hou, Eugenia Sacco, Alessandro Salvo, Paola Zani, Marco Zucca
MINI-DOC
A group of architects is already working on the reconstruction of the area, and we wanted to refer to their words in order to show the project for the old farmhouse. From our analysis we were able to identify a spectrum of the offering that, starting from the cafè-foyer, leaded to the concept of a community creating a widespread sense of conviviality through the participation at cultural events.
In the video, we actually start from the coffee mug, which is metaphorically the beating heart of the whole organization.
From this image we go through the different kind of events that the Cascina already offers and that the team wants to maintain in the future. With those events the association aims to create a multicultural community, in order to give the possibility to people to share experiences and create memories. The meeting moments sitting around a table strengthen the bonds between people: considering that conviviality is the pleasure that comes from being with others, after our analysis, the value proposition of Cascina 9 can be summed up in this image.
The video shootings were recorded during the event “Noor in Cascina” of last Sunday: we edited them in order to tell the story of the mentioned offering spectrum, from which we started with the ideation phase of our scenarios. Visiting the Cascina was really useful for understanding the spirit of the place and of the people who animate it.
SCENARIO
The scenario developed for this third assignment is a short-term one, settled in the immediate future, before the Cascina 9 reconstruction. The concept at the base of the scenario is to bring energy back to Cascina: the energy is represented by the people who animate this place, and by their relationships which create strong ties between different cultures. Starting from the Cascina itself, our “volunteer hero” starts cycling around the neighbourhood with a bicycle. This is how he collects energy, effectively producing it through movement. However, he can not do it just by himself: that’s why in different checkpoints he gives other people in the neighbourhood the chance to help him producing the energy needed for the project. In fact at the end of the day, when the battery is full, it will be used to project a movie in Cascina 9. Moreover, in addition to the energy collection, the journey inside the Zone 9 allows the hero to spread awareness about Cascina activities and to gather people for the movie of the evening. The bicycle is a fundamental metaphor in the video: it is not just the tool the hero uses to produce the energy required for the movie, but it also represents the power of Cascina itself, which grows when different people ride it with a common aim. This is why we believe that the most important element of Cascina 9 is the community that animates it: nationalities, genders and ages are not important, but everyone can participate in this energy restoration. This concept is clearly outlined in our video, when the hero during his journey around Dergano’s neighbourhood meets and interacts with different actors, who help him powering his bike for having the possibility to use the light for the movie projection in the evening. The arrival is again Cascina, and all the people informed during the day come to the place with their bike and socialize before the movie projection. The video ends with an incisive sentence: powered by the citizens of Dergano, meaning that the strength of Cascina 9 resides in the complexity of its neighbourhood, and not just in the common efforts of the associations that collaborate in it.
CASCINA 9
Market
Anikò Birò, Coco Nicola, Joshi Shreya Deepak, Tettamanti Alessandro, Wang He, Zhang Yuting, Zifeng Zeng
The purpose of the video is to mix narrative genres, from kids novel to documentary and interview, in orderto show that Nuovo Armenia is born part as an inspired dream and part as an active movement towards a precise goal. Also Nuovo Armenia has just come to life, but in the same time its ‘body’ is a century-old farm house that served to multiple purpose throughout is life. The old man in our story is the personification of that History, and he is happy to start again serving to his new purpose: provide access to culture and integration.
MINI-DOC [SINOSSI]
SCENARIO [SINOSSI]
CASCINA 9
Cafè Foyer
Behshid Baradaran, David Beltran, Monica Lei Chen, Federico De Luca, Juliana Loggia, Shivam Shrivastava
MINI-DOC
Images of Milan, like a symbolic city where everyone – symbolized by the moving cars – came to make their fortune. Description of these people, reflected in the video that shows the eyes of different nationalities. Many of them stay in Dergano, a welcome area: however, there was no place where they could meet and socialize. For this purpose Cascina 9 was born: a place from which no one is excluded. But what did they want ASNADA, NUOVA ARMENIA, POLITECNICO DI MILANO and the MUNICIPALITY OF MILAN when they conceived it? To bring cultures together through activities of common interest. What is currently offered covers many areas from cinema to coffee, from social events to workshops, up to including art exhibitions, theater plays and musical concerts. We thought of coffee as the key to a possible interaction: what better way to develop a friendship, if not in front of a cup of coffee, beverage that come from from so far as well? Since long ago, coffee benefits are recognized: if eating sometimes prevents the conversation, drinking something helps to cover the moments of embarrassment that arise during lacks of conversation, and is notes stuffy. In addition, caffeine helps you stay active! In conclusion we can say that abandoned places have a certain charm and hide secrets: a potential from which we want to make the most of. For this reason we have analyzed the shortcomings found among the activities proposed today, finding an interesting area on which to work. To do so we will reason in a bidirectional way, covering all the nuances that a multicultural experience can offer.
SCENARIO
In 2018, Cascina 9 is an abandoned place for itself, but has one desire: to become a reference place for people in the neighborhood. One day it happens that a boy passes by the cascina’s gate, and he starts to hear the cascina’s old soul. Curious, he enters following the music, which brings him into a mysterious room. There, he finds a chair on which he sits, disoriented, when the music finishes. In the meanwhile a movie starts…Cascina is a different place, flourishing, green and full of people. Lots of veggies coming from various countries are planted and cooked by a multicultural community. As a matter of facts people now come to cascina to learn different ways of dealing with the food, but especially to spend a day together before watching a movie, in a convivial and shared atmosphere. Food is seen here as a common language for integration.
