ARCHITECTURE FOR DOGS FIRST DEBUTED IN MIAMI

ARCHITECTURE FOR DOGS, THE BEGINNING OF A CHALLENGING AND CREATIVE PROJECT FROM RENOWNED ARCHITECTS, EXPLORES NEW PERSPECTIVES ON DESIGN, BUT LEAVES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRUE INTENT OF THE PROJECT

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This article is a part of art4d 30’s article series, which looks at some of the most significant projects on architecture, design, and art published during the past 30 years of art4d since its launch in 1995. The article is by Nate Wannathepsakul, and the photography is by Hiroshi Yoda.

‘Sincere’ is a strange choice of adjective to pair up with architecture and has the effect of making one instantly think of the opposite. If a little cynicism should crop up in my mind about this project, it is because there is, for one thing, something extravagant about the idea of an architecture for dogs, not to mention the line-up of such architectural luminaries this project was able to gather together. Is it really ‘sincere’ or is it another vehicle for star architects and designers to flaunt their styles and get some attention, as after all, who can resist being taken in by all adorableness (and even we couldn’t resist sharing)?

Why, for instance, does Shigeru Ban’s signature ‘made-for-disaster’ paper tubes – here shrunk to a plastic wrap tube incarnation – get turned into undulating partitions? What exactly are they for? Ban suggests ‘You can make a bed, a swing, a maze-like environment, even a chair or table for yourself.’ Actually, perhaps the question should be: Who are they for? And otherwise sensible and highly-talented designers like Sou Fujimoto comes up with a skeletal, gridded doghouse that would probably make for a cute piece of furniture for holding household items such as pot plants, books and the like but does nothing to provide a snug shelter for the inhabitant for which it is intended. Then he proclaims this will ‘project a new relationship between humans and dogs’ – ! Or take Kengo Kuma’s ‘mountain’, which looks like a mini version of student pavilions you find outside an architecture school in London’s Bloomsbury, and you can’t help but wonder at how Kuma has exceeded even those in adhering to ‘function follows form’.

One senses that not everyone is wholly uncritical of the enterprise, Konstantin Grcic, for example, offers an ironic take in the form of a vanity mirror for poodles, in reference to the Mirror Test that tests the self-awareness of animals, research says that dogs do not have this faculty, but some poodle owners are claiming otherwise. Thus this ambiguous piece for a breed of dogs known for its intelligence, for which Grcic says ‘leads to only one logical call: poodles for president!’ And, indeed, the other conclusion: architecture for dogs! Elien Deceunink and Mick van Gemert of MVRDV in their statement, go as far as acknowledging that ‘There is no such a thing as architecture for dogs; dogs live in people’s architecture, and according to the owners’ choices,’ but then ignore their own protest and go on to offer up a design anyways.

Out of this jamboree of architectural follies and rampant anthropomorphism, plaudits go to Toyo Ito and Hiroshi Naito, who have created the most sober designs and which might actually be of some real use to our canine friends. Ito offers a stroller for taking old dogs for a wander, while Naito created a cooler in remembrance of his own Spitz who died at the ripe old age of 16 and who used to get extremely uncomfortable in the summer as Naito’s house was without air-conditioning, It’s particularly interesting to note that these are probably the most boring designs of the lot visually, and yet the most functional and relevant.

Kenya Hara in his own design – a platform that dogs can climb up to stand eye-to-eye with human adults of a certain height – broaches on an interesting aspect that could arise out of this project, namely that of scale, especially in terms of non-human ones when from the Vitruvian Man to Le Corbusier’s Modulor, architecture is embedded with the imprint of the human figure. Hara’s offering is similar in thought to a trend in contemporary house design, of creating stairways (with lower rises) for dogs (because, you know, they have shorter legs, nevermind that they don’t walk the way we do), and are both equally simplistic in their approaches.

The question is this: why did this ‘sincere’ architecture for dogs not entertain briefs like urban interventions for stray dogs or more sympathetic cage design for when they need to be confined? The answer is probably that Architecture for Dogs is first and foremost a business, with all that that entails. A company founded by Kenya Hara with the backing of Imprint Venture Lab, it is according to its official description, ‘a multi-tiered business strategy that incorporates cultural exhibitions, online interactivity, and the future integration of a traditional retail component’. To kickstart this enterprise, there is the impeccable www.architecturefordogs.com, also by a star (web) designer, Yugo Nakamura. From here, anyone can download the blueprint of each structure for free and build it for themselves, it is then hoped that you will want to share your efforts for your pets for all to see and so upload images and spread them about and gamer attention for the project in the process. The first exhibition has taken place in Miami on 5th December 2012, and by spring of 2013, flat-packed versions of all 13 objects will be rolled out and distributed across the globe (this time not for free) and a book has been planned for later in the year.

Architecture ‘for Dogs’ is highly debatable, and for most of its designers, undeniably gratuitous.

architecturefordogs.com

Originally published in art4d No.199, December 2012-January 2013

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TEXT: NATRE WANNATHEPSAKUL
PHOTO: HIROSHI YODA