Architecture for Dogs is a collaboration of professional architects and designers who have designed a collection of elaborately designed ingenious structures dedicated to a human’s best friend. Each of the 13 pieces of architecture has been created as part of a DIY project. Anyone can make these designs at home by simply following well detailed diagrams or pictures or watching the videos. The blueprints of the designs can be downloaded from Architecture for Dogs for free and you can start building one of your favourites featured below.
Architecture for Long-Bodied-Short-Legged-Dogs by Atelier Bow-Wow for Dachshund Smooth
Architecture for Long-Bodied-Short-Legged-Dogs – Because of their short legs, it’s hard for dachshunds to meet their masters’ eyes.Also because of their short legs, it’s hard for them to get up on chairs.Is there no good way to get closer to the eyes? Stairs? With those too-long bodies, they may throw out their backs. How about something like a folded slope? This works. Let’s make it long enough so a person can lie down too. Sunbathing with your dachshund on the veranda is good. The area under the slope is like a burrow for small animals. They can train there, digging down there to catch their prey. If you connect several, they can go anywhere, and form any shape. Multiple stacks in an atrium space make a ramp for the dogs to go upstairs.
Dog Cooler by Hiroshi Naito for Spitz
Dog Cooler – Designed as a tribute to Naito’s dog Pepe, the Dog Cooler is created by tucking wooden slats in between aluminium tubes. By inserting a plastic bag filled with ice into the highly thermally conductive aluminium pipe, you can expect quite the cooling effect. The wood slats allow the dog’s claws to get a firm hold. Connecting the metal to the wood with rubber hose allows the dog to feel comfortable and relaxed on this cooling contraption, which can be adapted to the layout of your room.
Mobile Home for Shiba by Toyo Ito
Mobile Home for Shiba – The Mobile home has tires attached to a well-ventilated wooden basket with a soft, fluffy cushion inside. The crate floor is designed to be as close to the ground as possible so that the dog could board and disembark by itself. In addition, because it can act as a bed that fits in the entryway or inside the house, it is even more of a mobile doghouse.
Paramount by Konstantic Grcic for Toy Poodle
Paramount – Designer Konstantic Grcic has created a little dresser for the highly intelligent and look conscious poodle after learning about claims made by poodle owners that their poodles react positively to mirrors and display unmistakable signs of self-awareness.
Pointed T by Hara Design Institute for Japanese Terrier
Pointed T – Take one large sheet of heavy paper. Cut a part off and fold it. Hang it from the ceiling and you have a territory for your dog in the room. You don’t need nails or any construction tools; with just stationery anyone can make this house. A house without walls, whose roof just floats, is completely different from traditional doghouses, creating an ambiguous space for the dog. When a Japanese terrier is in the house, his head is completely hidden, but you can see his skinny legs through the gaps, prancing along, and it looks exactly like he’s wearing a big pointy hat. For the dog, it’s a house, but for humans, it’s a unique dog object.
Architecture for the Bichon Frise by Kazuyo Sejima for Bichon Frise
Architecture for the Bichon Frise – The fur of the bichon frise is distinct. Extremely white, soft and fluffy, it’s like cotton candy, or a whisp of cloud. This architecture resembles the bichon frise with its fascinating fur, but one size larger. The overall shape is that of a slightly compacted sphere offering the ideal indentation, a space in which a bichon frise could be comfortably settled.
Beagle House by MVRDV for Beagle
Beagle House – The curved shape invites the dog to enter the house, stimulates play and offers a comfortable and quiet space. Every time the dog enters or exits, the house answers with a subtle motion. The rounded bottom touches the ground gently with little friction. The rope attached to the house makes it easy to move for both dog and owner, and humans can easily carry its wedge shape. The interaction with humans is made more obvious since the curved lines reach human eye level. The firm and active Beagle has inspired us to design a simple, strong and playful object.
No Dogs, No Life by Sou Fujimoto for Boston Terrier
No Dogs, No Life – This is the house where the dog lives, inside the house where the people who own the dog live. This architecture is a living space for the dog, as well as furniture for the people, a garden within the house, as well as a gentle boundary between the people and the dog.
Wanmock by Torafu Architects for Jack Russell Terrier
Wanmock – A wooden frame on which the owners’ old clothes are stretched, making use of the elasticity of the fabric, becomes a hammock of sorts, enveloping the dog’s body. For summer, a material that lets the air through; in winter something thicker; the clothing can be changed with the seasons.
Papier Papillon by Shigeru Ban for Papillon
Papier Papillon – With just two wires, the paper tube found inside the ubiquitous cylinder of plastic wrap changes shape, making a space for dogs. You can make a bed, a swing, a maze-like environment, even a chair or table for yourself.
Mount Pug by Kengo Kuma for Pug
Mount Pug – Mount Pug is a mesh-shaped “mountain,” assembly of thin and long 600mm (plywood) pieces as “branches.” By combining the unevenness of each branch to form in hexagon and triangle, the “branches” begin to support each other as if the cells of living creatures. The “mountain” can gain enough strength from it without nails or a bond. Pug is clever and mischievous. It makes full use of the mesh as its nest and plaything. Toys and snacks can also be hung on the mesh.
Chihuahua Cloud by Reiser + Umemoto for Chihuahua
Chihuahua Cloud – The Cloud is architecture that travels with the dog, a second skin that communicates the uniqueness of any given Chihuahua’s body and temperament. The puffed, bespoke skin of the Cloud translates the movement, speed, and personality of the Chihuahua into a pattern of undulations. Designed to suit the specific needs of this feisty breed, the Cloud creates a climatic buffer to shield the dog from cold, and provides protection for the general weakness of the dog’s bones—including the soft spots around the skull (moleras) and the sensitive area near the eyes. The billowing volume of the Cloud also responds to the Chihuahua’s love of burrowing and playing “hide and seek.”
D – Tunnel by Kenya Hara for Teacup Poodle
D – Tunnel – Through the D – Tunnel design, the designer aims at focussing on a scale that achieves equilibrium. People have designed their environments to their own scale. For instance, each step of a stairway is 15cm high, around the world. This came to be naturally because of the height of humans and the length of their feet. The same goes for the heights of chairs and tables, the existence and size of doors, in fact, the size of houses and cities are predicated on the human body. Accordingly, dogs, who spend their lives at the side of humans, must accept human scale. This architecture is an apparatus for the purpose of naturally bringing dogs and humans eye to eye.
Images © Hiroshi Yoda