The paf atelier transforms the cinema into an introspective environment
At Milan Design Week 2026designboom works with Paf atelier to present the Cinema of Dreams within the ROOM FOR A DREAM acquisition at ME Milan Il Duca. Designed by Christopher Dessus and his studio, installation frameworks cinema as an environment where space becomes the medium through which images, bodies and imagination intersect.
Paf atelier manufactures what Dessus describes during our discussion as “a place of dreams”, a place where visitors can “to be in relation to ideas” and reflect “the optimism and new possibility of the new generation”. Anchored in the intensity of Milan Design Week, the work introduces a more introspective rhythm, inviting the audience to pause. Cinema, in this context, becomes a tool of mental projection. It’s less about consuming content and more about creating the conditions to engage with it differently, aligning with the broader framework ROOM FOR DREAMS addresses imagination as a catalyst for cultural transformation.
“I dream all day but not all night” reflects the French designerlinking his creative process to a continuous act of projection. This mindset ultimately defines the installation, which treats design as a way to make ideas tangible. “My job is to create a new dream for people,” he tells us. In Milan, this aspiration takes the form of an immersive capsule that resists spectacle in favor of presence.
images © designboom, photo by Camilla Mancini with Giorgio Galliano
a dark, disorienting interior invites visitors to slow down
Inside the Cinema of Dreams, reflective fabric is stretched and gathered into rhythmic drapes, pinned by roundabouts that pull the material into gentle wave-like formations across the walls. The liquid-like surface draws light in shifting gradients of silver and blue while dissolving room boundaries. A curved floor extends this language, scattered with cushions that invite the body to lie directly within the scenography.
“The circle, the curtains and the waves are the only components of this work,” Dessus tells designboomemphasizing the deliberate reduction of elements. For the Studio based in Parisclarity comes from precision. “Only a form expresses the meaning of the work,” explains the designer. This minimal vocabulary is matched by an equally limited material approach. “We want to create a space without many materials,” the designer continues, framing the environment as a continuous surface rather than a composition of parts.
Entering the Cinema of Dreams is intentionally destabilizing. “When people first walk into the cinema, there is a sense of disorientation,” Notes above. Darkness delays immediate understanding, requiring time for the eyes to adjust and the body to calm down. “It’s very dark, very comfortable… and after a few minutes you can see each other,” he says, highlighting a gradual transition from disorientation to awareness. This temporal unfolding becomes a key design tool, encouraging visitors to linger within the space rather than move quickly through it. “It’s not about moving fast, it’s about stopping and taking a moment.”
At the core of the work is a spatial ambiguity between sitting and viewing. “The seat and the screen are in the same form,” Desouses explains, breaking down the conventional hierarchy of cinema. Instead of facing the image, visitors inhabit it. This physical proximity reframes the act of watching. “It’s not just in your mind, it’s physical.” he adds, describing the installation as a paradox where tangible forms host intangible experiences. The dream, here, is not observational but embodied, “not to watch the dream, but to be in the dream”, as Christopher Above mentions.
the curved, enveloping architecture creates a cocoon-like space
to dream as a production, not as an escape
For Dessus, the concept of dream extends beyond atmosphere to method. “A dream is not to create the impossible, but all the possibilities to create something new.” shares with uspositioning the imagination as a productive force.
This perspective is embedded in the studio’s wider practice, which runs across architecture, scenography and design. Instead of decoration, the work aims “to create a new energy together with good people”, where “emotions and forms” are aligned.
Developed as a first collaboration between Paf atelier and designboom, Cinema of Dreams emerges as a space for collaboration and meeting. “Idea for cooperation and meeting people”, as Dessus puts itrooted in optimism and transparency.
Within the wider program of screenings, interviews and discussions, the settings shape how the content is experienced. As part of ROOM FOR DREAMS, it becomes the “beating heart” of a temporary ecosystem where moving images and spatial design converge into a unified narrative of creativity and possibility.
visitors inhabit the set design directly
glimpses through the thresholds frame the installation as a multi-layered environment
guests settle into the dimly lit Cinema of Dreams
