Make your puppy feel like an architect

DESIGN_ We get really bored with conventional, sad and unappealing doghouses of our puppies. How many times have we wanted a better place for our dog, maybe matched with the interiors?

Architecture for Dogs, a new company founded by Kenya Hara in conjunction with Imprint Venture Lab, launched a new collection of sincere architectural structures developed in collaboration with world-class architects and designers, with the shared mission of bringing a new kind of joy to the relationship between dogs and humans. The project features breed-specific architectural structures designed by Shigeru Ban, MVRDV, Toyo Ito Toyo Ito, Konstantin Grcic,Kazuyo Sejima, Kengo Kuma, and Kenya Hara, among others.

Architecture for Dogs features a multi-tiered business strategy that incorporates cultural exhibitions, online interactivity, and the future integration of a traditional retail component. On www.architecturefordogs.com, anyone anywhere in the world is able to download free blueprints of each structure in the collection, each designed for a different breed of dog.

Participating designers include Kenya Hara (Teacup Poodle); Atelier Bow-Wow (Dachshund); Shigeru Ban (Papillion); Sou Fujimoto (Boston Terrier); Konstantin Grcic (Toy Poodle); Hara Design Institute, Haruka Misawa (Japanese Terrier); Toyo Ito (Shiba); Kengo Kuma (Pug); MVRDV (Beagle); Hiroshi Naito (Spitz); Reiser + Umemoto (Chihuahua); Kazuyo Sejima (Bichon Frise); and Torafu Architects (Jack Russell Terrier). The website is designed by Yugo Nakamura, the highly respected web and interactive designer for Uniqlo, MoMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind website, and Louis Vuitton, among many others.

Conceived years ago by Kenya Hara, Creative Director of MUJI, Architecture for Dogs is an innovative venture that blurs the lines between exhibition concept, commercial company, and crowd-sourced, interactive online project for the global community. In spring of 2013, flat-packed versions of each design in the collection was introduced, allowing visitors to www.architecturefordogs.com or retail outlets around the globe the opportunity to purchase ready-to-assemble versions of each design.

“When we first began discussing the Architecture for Dogs concept with Kenya Hara, we were immediately intrigued,” says Julia Y.C. Huang, Founder and CEO of Imprint Venture Lab, the business incubator behind Architecture for Dogs. “We of course have a great deal of respect for Hara’s work with MUJI as well as his academic and curatorial work, but the multi-pronged approach we were able to develop in conjunction with him – as well as the incredible roster of talent he brought on board – allowed us to help develop this concept into a start-up that’s unlike any we’ve ever seen.”

The thirteen designs in the Architecture for Dogs:

Designer: Kenya Hara | Title: D-Tunnel | Breed: Teacup Poodle