ABSTRACT
Narratives of “domestication” determine which creatures are accepted or not within human spaces, nonetheless, more-than-human anthropology indicates that, in different contexts, that distinction can sometimes blur, suggesting spaces supporting alternative human-nonhuman relationships. Experiments of multispecies architecture often don’t prioritise interactions with humans, but it’s precisely in the spaces where different species co-exist that design has opportunities to look for alternative hierarchies, gaining a broader agency: conflicts and frictions can become particular moments of inquiry. This paper contextualizes and critically discusses concepts related to three speculative projects by Animali Domestici, which investigate coexistence in mundane everyday spaces through techniques of storytelling and diegetic prototyping, whose goal is to “situate” within the speculative scenario, aiming at focusing on nuances of friction. These projects engage both with physical and digital prototypes, but they also explore their hybridization and contamination as an opportunity to blur the boundary between reality and fiction.
