D-Tunnel by Kenya Hara for Teacup Poodle
Courtesy of Hiroshi Yoda

Architecture for Dogs

Architecture for Dogs is a new concept and commercial company founded by Imprint Lab in conjunction with Kenya Hara, Tokyo-based designer, curator, educator, and Artistic Director for MUJI. For his latest project, Hara has assigned twelve worldrenowned architects and designers each a breed of dog for which to design an architectural structure suited to that particular breed’s characteristics, temperament, health and living conditions.

Making its worldwide debut in Miami as part of the Design Miami/ Design Satellite program, the exhibition, designed and curated by Hara, will feature twelve designs: Kenya Hara (Teacup Poodle); Atelier Bow-Wow (Dachshund); Shigeru Ban (Papillion); Sou Fujimoto (Boston Terrier); Konstantin Grcic (Poodle); Hara Design Institute (Japanese Terrier); Toyo Ito (Shiba); Kengo Kuma (Pug); MVRDV (Beagle); Hiroshi Naito (Spitz); Reiser + Umemoto (Chihuahua); Kazuyo Sejima (Bichon Frise); and Torafu (Jack Russell Terrier).

The recently launched website, ArchitectureForDogs.com, was designed by Yugo Nakamura, a Tokyo-based graphic and interactive designer who has worked extensively with Uniqlo and Louis Vuitton, among others. The site features free downloadable blueprints of every design in the collection, thereby allowing anyone anywhere in the world the ability to build each Architecture for Dogs structure free of charge. Full instructions on materials and build out, as well as instructional videos on the site encourage the highly interactive element of Hara’s concept. After building the designs, visitors to the site are encouraged to upload their own versions of each structure onto the Architecture for Dogs website or submit their own design ideas.

After Architecture for Dog’s Miami debut, the concept will travel to different locations throughout the world before closing with an exhibition in Tokyo’s Toto Gallery in October 2013. A final book on the project, tracing the trajectory of the concept from Miami to Tokyo, will be published in conjunction with the Toto Gallery exhibition.

www.architecturefordogs.com