The Dog House

犬之宅

This is a residential project designed for the owner and their beloved dog, for the dog’s needs on medical care and good living. We call it the Dog House.

Due to chromosomal differences, dogs are less capable to identify colors than humans. The owner of Dog House hopes to create a colorful world inside the house in which his dog can touch and perceive. According to authoritative researches from recent years, dogs can recognize yellow, blue and transitional color segments inbetween in the color spectrum. Therefore, the architect tried to enclose a space by structuring colors in this project, together with the direct and indirect rendering of lights, to guide and effect and mood of spaces.


这是为主人和爱犬共同生活,并围绕爱犬的医疗需求和生活状态而设计的住宅项目, 我们将他命名为犬之宅.

染色体的差异使得犬类对颜色的辨识能力低于人类, 而主人希望为爱犬在这个住宅中创造一个它可以触碰和感知的多彩世界。近年来的权威研究证明, 犬类可辨识色彩光谱中的黄，蓝，以及过渡色段，所以在这个项目中，我们考虑用建构的方式通过色彩来围合出空间的氛围，配合光线的直接和间接渲染，引导和影响空间的情绪和感官效果。

In Dog House, the first floor includes the kitchen, the dining room and the living room, the underground floor is the dog’s bathroom and activity space, the second floor is composed of the main bedroom and entertaining area. Spaces for the owner alone are basically grey, dark grey, light grey and white; while functional spaces for the dog are more colorful. Two sets of colors inside the house: calm colors including lake blue, dark gray, navy blue and light gray are playing with vibrant colors, such us roseate, goose yellow and sky blue. These colors contrast and complement between each other to narrate the depth, distance and motions of the spaces. Lights are indirectly presented through diffusion and semi-self-illuminating materials. After the white ceilings are evenly lit, the geometrical surfaces of the sloping roof are seting off each other and creating an subtle reflection of light, which has weakened the sense of existence of the ceiling and the floor. The layers of lights also have gently enriched the spaces.


犬之宅的首层空间为厨房，餐厅和客厅，地下一层是犬浴室和活动空间，二层为主人卧室与休闲区域，其中首层与地下一层是人和犬共同活动的空间。主人单独使用的空间为灰色调，深灰，浅灰和白色；与犬相关的功能空间，色彩的使用上则更加丰富。在这个项目中的颜色的使用了两套体系，稳定色如湖蓝色，深灰色，藏青色，浅灰色，配合穿插跳跃色，如玫瑰色，鹅黄色，与天蓝色，在不同的功能区相互对比映衬，来表达室内空间的深浅，距离，动静和时间。灯光的考量更多的是以漫反射或者半自发光的材质效果，以间接照明的形式呈现于空间内，白色天花被均匀打亮之后，坡屋顶的各几何面相互映衬出一种不易被发现的微弱反光，弱化吊顶和楼板的感知，使得光的层次让空间变得更加丰富。

The Dog House has two dog-only bathrooms. The core area is a barrier-free shower space for the dog with two-way ramps and separated wet area. At the other end of the shower, there is a operation floor for routine physical exams and medical care of the dog. The heights of the shower space and operation floor are determined after long-term observation on the living habits of the owner and the dog. The small bathroom next to the shower room used a lot of noise-reducing fabrics that are newly deveopled by Danish textile brand Kvadrat, which is to reduce the harmness to the ears caused by the dog barking during the bathing.  

The owner’s dog is extremely sensitive to the touch of materials due to congenital disease on its joint. Therefore, special materials are used in the design to reduce the damage to its hip joint caused by the friction with materials, for example, soft flooring and medical-grade waterproof coating are applied on the stairs and ramps in both exterior and interior spaces that are relevant to the dog.

It is a very unique commission to us, since all the requests from the owner, including the space, materials, even furniture and decoration, are almost completely centered on the dog’s habits and needs. The specific requirements on functional details, the re-understanding and re-conceptualize of design from the perspective of dogs have greatly inspired us to reflect on and to design the space, which eventually leads to a satisfactory result. Whenever we see the owner and their beloved dog living and playing together inside the house, we are always touched by the love between them. The love is expressed beyond the presentation of architecture and design skills, which is probably the ultimate meaning of the entire project.

犬之宅总共设有两个犬专用浴室，其中的核心区域，是为主人的爱犬设置的带有双向坡道的无障碍淋浴空间，此空间干湿分离，在淋浴动线的末端是为主人对爱犬进行日常身体检查，换药等医疗操作的操作平台，整个淋浴空间与操作台的标高，由我们长时间测量和观察主人和爱犬生活习惯，和日常动态所获得的数据而定制。在旁边小浴室中，大面积使用了丹麦布料供应商Kvadrat最新研发的降噪布料，以降低由于洗澡操作过程中引起的犬吠，带来的对主人和爱犬耳膜伤害的可能性。

犬之宅主人的爱犬由于患有先天性关节问题，使得它对材料的触感极端敏感,所以设计中需要使用特殊材料降低材料摩擦对它髋关节的损伤。因此与它日常相关的所有室内外空间，楼梯与坡道，均使用柔性地面和医疗等级防水涂料。

这是一个非常独特的设计委托，宅主人有关空间，材料，甚至家具和软装的所有要求，几乎完全围绕爱犬的生活习惯和需求为核心，对细节的特殊功能需求，以犬视角对设计的再理解和再设计，启发了我们在空间和节点上的思考和创造，才有了最终的效果呈现。完工之后每看到主人与爱犬在空间里饮食起居，游戏追逐，都仍然会被主人与犬之间的爱意感动，超越建筑与技艺的具象表达，这大概才是整个项目全部意义。