Take shelter: Architects for Animals initiates well-designed homes for cats
Architects for Animals has proof that animals appreciate pioneering design as much as humans. The charitable initiative has invited some of LA’s top architects and designers to take part in its 2016 benefit by creating homes for feral cats in need of shelter from the elements.
Of course, it isn't the first time starchitects lend their skills to faithful furry friends. Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara famously set up Architecture for Dogs in 2012.
For Architects for Animals, twelve firms donated brilliant designs that address the functional and social needs of street cats – incorporating playful elements, such as built-in feeding bowls, string toys, a ‘trophy’ gallery of mice or a live fish bowl – while all the while still appealing to the human eye.
Among the outstanding and quirky structures, Standard Architecture | Design constructed a self-heating shelter — the California Catcube — designed to give the ideal conditions for a catnap. Built from reclaimed wood and concrete the shelter traps heat during the day and releases it during the cool of the night; meanwhile, movable wood louvers work like window shutters to allow fresh air to circulate, should its inhabitant feel the need. For the more cultured cat, Pfeiffer Partners Architects’ ‘Teatro de Gato’ (Cat Theatre) allows the feline thespian a chance in the spotlight on their own personal stage.
Leslie Farrell, Founder of Architects for Animals, started picking up the phone in 2009 to invite architects and designers to build and donate designs. It is now one of the most popular and unique events on Los Angeles’ design calendar. ‘I have always been a fan of architecture, design and artists,’ she says. ‘I decided to devote my effort to create an event that would bring these worlds together and ultimately provide new ways to raise awareness and help animals that are suffering.’
The shelters were unveiled at a sold-out benefit in March, and all of the proceeds go to FixNation – who provide medical care and spray/neutering of homeless cats throughout LA County.
INFORMATION
A selection of the donated shelters will be available to buy by auction on Ebay. For updates, please visit the Fixnation website
Photography: Meghan Bob Photography
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Maude’s Brâncuși-inspired sex toys go on display in a new Paris exhibition
Maude’s design-led vibrators are now on display at Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, as part of ‘Private Lives: From the Bedroom to Social Media’. Brand founder Éva Goicochea talks to Wallpaper* about partnering with the museum and opening up cultural conversations around sex
By India Birgitta Jarvis Published
-
‘I was captivated by the idea of merging two iconic brands’: Nigo on his collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which features a 1990s-inspired riff on the G-Wagon
Unveiled at Moncler’s ‘The City of Genius’ event in Shanghai this past weekend, Japanese fashion designer Nigo unpacks his three-way collaboration with Moncler and Mercedes-Benz, which includes a play on the G-Class alongside a fashion collection in his eclectic style
By Jack Moss Published
-
Cathay Pacific’s new business class Aria Suites take flight
Cathay Pacific raises the bar for business-class travel with the launch of the much-anticipated Aria Suites
By Lauren Ho Published
-
One to Watch: Brooklyn studio Outgoing gives new meaning to the idea of world building
Life and creative partners Brett Gui Xin and Del Hardin Hoyle from Outgoing blur the lines between craft and concept in experimental designs that have the potential for greater application
By Adrian Madlener Published
-
Discover this romantic Hollywood hideaway for a creative couple
Practising her own interiors motto, ‘good design works anywhere’, Mallery Roberts Morgan transforms a 1960s ranch-style house in the hills above Sunset Boulevard
By Mallery Roberts Morgan Published
-
Discover the alchemy of American artists Philip and Kelvin LaVerne
The work of Philip and Kelvin LaVerne, prized by collectors of 20th-century American art, is the subject of a new book by gallerist Evan Lobel; he tells us more
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Sarah Solis’ first furniture collection is an homage to art deco
‘Is it weird to call furniture sexy?’ Los Angeles-based designer Sarah Solis discusses her debut furniture line and new brand and store, Galerie Solis
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Three sleek new design showrooms you need to see in Los Angeles
Three international design showrooms have started a retail design boom in Los Angeles. Here are the stores to put on your radar
By Carole Dixon Published
-
One to watch: Casey Zablocki’s Rocky Mountain surroundings feed into his vast sculptural work
Montana-based artist Casey Zablocki uses one of America’s largest kilns to create monumental ceramic, functional sculptures
By Dan Howarth Published
-
This remodelled San Francisco family home by MEMarchitecture and Studio Volpe is a masterpiece of soothing modernity
A sensitive and coherent approach by the San Francisco-based architects and designers has resulted in a home of tactile beauty, character and comfort
By Shonquis Moreno Published
-
First Look: a domestic idyll by Lucy Stark and Fabien Cappello at the Blunk Space
Inspired by the life and times at JB Blunk's haven of a house in Inverness, a new exhibition of paintings and objects has us dreaming of California
By Hugo Macdonald Published