HEAD – Genève is presenting an exhibition at Alcova Milano 2026 that examines domestic life through the perspective of animals and shared living environments.
Titled No One Sees Them Like We Do – Notes on Animal Interiors, the project has been created by students from the MAIA – Master in Interior Architecture programme at HEAD – Genève and is on show during Milano Design Week 2026 from 20 to 26 April.
© HEAD – Genève
The exhibition explores contemporary relationships between humans and companion animals through six spatial narratives. According to the organisers, the project focuses on the uncertain position animals often occupy within homes, legal systems and technical infrastructures shaped by human needs.
Led by architect Youri Kravtchenko, founder of Bureau Ykra, the initiative was developed with assistants David Valadomiu Ceballos and Marie Schild.
Rather than presenting animals as symbols or metaphors, the exhibition considers them as active presences capable of challenging human-centred views of domestic space. Through a non-interventionist approach, it investigates everyday care routines, coexistence and often overlooked household systems.
The installation takes the form of a constellation of micro-architectures, objects and infrastructural fragments. Six animals, including the rat, dog, dove, frog and cat, each inspire a separate narrative grounded in fable as a speculative tool for rethinking relationships between humans, animals and environments.
Featured student projects include Feast for Rats by Matilde Arletti and Le Collectif LA DALLE, They Are Seven Doves Dancing in My Homes by Hugo Maia Schmitt and Letizia Milone, Meuw (Socius novus) by Jaemo Lee and Lisa Schobe, Some Animals Hide to Die by Diana Escalante and Karol Szmigielski, and Frogs in Search of Wetlands by Martino De Grandis and Ailyn Pieyre.
By using interior architecture as a lens for coexistence, the exhibition positions design as a means of questioning established hierarchies and reconsidering how domestic environments are shared across species.
More information:
HEAD – Genève
www.hesge.ch
