Tactile Garden for Animals arrives in Bologna, inspired by Bruno Munari's Tactile Forest

Coming to Bologna on Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8, will be a... Tactile Garden for Animals, inspired by the famous tactile forest by Bruno Munari (Milan, 1907 - 1998), as part of Quattrozampeinfiera, the dog- and cat-friendly fair being held at BolognaFiere this very weekend. The Tactile Garden for Animals is a space for dogs and cats with installations made with tactile materials that encourage greater involvement of the senses for their pets, and where surfaces are designed to enrich the animals’ perceptual and cognitive experience.

The Tactile Animal Garden is a project of the HAD Human Animal Design and, as mentioned, is inspired by the tactile forest of Bruno Munari, an artist and designer who advocated the need to help children grow up developing all the senses, so that they do not lose their sense of life. And if tactile stimulation is essential in the human learning process, it is also essential for animals. The project aims to amaze visitors to Quattrozampeinfiera, but above all it wants to invite them to reflect on the need to rethink domestic space by making it more dog- and cat-friendly. In short, a home that is more attentive to the animal’s species-specific characteristics, its needs, and that encourages adaptation in a built environment that is very different from its natural habitat.

As visitors move through the fair, they encounter the Tactile Garden with four sections devoted to the cat, the dog and, of course, man’s relationship with them. Three sections are devoted to the cat, its curiosity and the kinesthetic, playful and zenithal dimensions that mark many of its behaviors. On the wall-mounted shelves, the cat can climb, climb, scratch-mark, look unnoticed, and of course, find shelter away from the chaos. The walls of the installation are inspired by natural elements such as the tree-life, the sun-heat, and the water-waterfall.

Instead, in the center of the installation are “meanders,” giant sofas with organic shapes, where man and dog can lie together on the ground and strengthen their relationship through rituals of proximity, affection, and affiliation, sharing spaces and resources. A place of coexistence where man welcomes the animal’s point of view, tending to take a less anthropocentric stance, more attentive to the other’s needs and otherness.

The HAD is a new brand that, through punctual or more diffuse interventions, works on the environmental qualities of architectural spaces, in terms of capacity, articulation, furnishings, fittings, materials, with interventions that can be scaled according to the needs detected. The HAD method aspires to demonstrate how a well-designed space can positively impact the animal’s behaviors and psycho-physical balance, encouraging adaptation to the domestic space and generating new opportunities for expressive ease, in line with its talents and desires.

For the duration of Quattrozampeinfiera, visitors, accompanied by their faithful friends, will be able to test and purchase products and services, approach numerous sports activities, from mental activation games to parades with their dogs to spend two days of pure fun. For information you can visit the Quattrozampeinfiera website.

Tactile Garden for Animals arrives in Bologna, inspired by Bruno Munari's Tactile Forest

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