In recent months, due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has made it essential for many of us to stay at home more, we have come to appreciate the importance of biophilic interior designs that help promote our wellbeing, like incorporating nature and natural materials.
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| Photo: Jeremie Souteyrat. |
Now an exhibition in the heart of Kensington, London in the UK opens our eyes to unique designs that promote the wellbeing of ourselves and our trusted best friends, our dogs.
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| Photo © Lucia Carpio 2020 |
Entitled “Architecture for Dogs” the exhibition in the basement of the tranquil Japan House** features a range of 16 creative doggy furniture/homes designed by international notable architects and designers. Many of the creations are much like furniture that make comfort a major factor for our four-legged friends, specifically small to medium sized breeds including the Beagle, Bishon Frise and Poodle, while others are designed to promote activity, perhaps to ensure peaceful co-habiting with humans.
With our loyal, four-legged friends proving their value as comforting companions during lockdown more than ever, Architecture for Dogs offers visitors a fun and insightful exploration into how it is possible for dogs and their human companions to be at their happiest through interaction with specially designed architectural pieces, according to Japan House in a press statement.
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| Photo: Adrian Brooks, Imagewise |
Internationally renowned Japanese architect Kuma Kengo has created “Mount Pug”, a form of a nest or playground made organically with interconnecting pieces without the use of a signle nail.
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| Photo © Lucia Carpio 2020 |
Kengo is the designer of the Tokyo’s New National Stadium which has been built for 2020 Summer Olympics, which sadly the world didn’t get to experience this year. Fingers crossed the Olympics will be able to proceed in 2021.
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| Photo: Hiroshi Yoda. |
“No Dog, No Life” is by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, created to reminisce his famous “House NA”, featuring a grid-like shelfing structure that doubles up as a display and storage space as well, while housing a hopefully well-behaved dog that doesn’t act like a bull in a china shop. In 2013, Fujimoto’s commissioned work for London’s Serpentine Gallery featured a cloud-like structure made from grids of white steel poles.
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| Photo: Hiroshi Yoda. |
While designer Misawa Haruka’s Pointed T is a doghouse made from paper that resembles a cone-shaped tent suspended from the ceiling, architect Sejima Kazuyo, founder of SANA, goes for a cloud-shaped design – described as a candy floss cocoon - to mirror the fluffy fur of the Bichon Frise. It’s sort of a hideaway where dog and structure blend into one.
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| Photo: Hiroshi Yoda. |
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| Photo © Lucia Carpio 2020 |
Architect Ban Shigeru turns paper tubes and soft wires into organic, flexible structures to create flexible structures that allow dogs and humans to interact in a myriad of ways.
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| Photo: Hiroshi Yoda. |
While MVRDV presents a playful take on the dog house, with an interactive toy which is at the same time a stimulating environment for the intelligent Beagle breed to enjoy, German industrial designer Konstantin Grcic has created a fun mirror-led structure for pooches to gaze at themselves.
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| Photo © Lucia Carpio 2020 |
To visit Architecture for Dogs, you need to pre-register at the Japan House London website. Dog owners may also bring their own small dogs to interact with a number of the exhibits in the free exhibition. Visitors are also given paper and pencil to come up with their own creations inspired by the show. Architecture for Dogs will continue until 10th January 2021.
Hara Kenya, Chief Creative Advisor for the Japan House project and creator of Architecture for Dogs, says, "We are delighted that, at the invitation of Japan House London, we are able to take this exhibition to London. While the architecture is ‘for dogs’, each of the contributors taking part in this unique project is a first class, world renowned architect. Please come and enjoy this cutting-edge architecture exhibition”.
Simon Wright, Director of Programming, Japan House London, explained, “This exhibition, featuring architecture specially designed for our canine best friends by a pantheon of stellar creative minds, is thoughtful, provocative and delightfully playful. Come and join us, and design with us.”
“Architecture for Dogs has always allowed us to see designers and architects as creative problem-solver, story-teller and even empathic futurists,” says Julia Y.C. Huang, CEO of Imprint, co-founder of Architecture for Dogs. “In its eighth year of inception, we cannot but think it has a special meaning for it to take place in 2020. In this time of uncertainty, I can be certain that a visit to Japan House London for this exhibition will bring smiles to your faces.”
** Japan House London is a cultural centre offering visitors an experience of the best and latest from Japan. Located on London’s Kensington High Street, the experience is an authentic encounter with Japan, engaging and surprising even the most knowledgeable guests. Presenting the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology, it deepens our appreciation of all that Japan has to offer. Part of a global initiative led by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are two other Japan Houses in the world: in Los Angeles and São Paulo.
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