For thousands of years, humans have designed the world to suit us: homes that protect us from the cold, cities that accelerate, streets that direct the flow of our bodies. But something is changing. Coexistence with animals reaches a new levelmore conscious and symbiotic. Today, space is no longer considered only as a place of refuge for humans, but as a common arena.
Architecture, which has long served to separate humans from nature, is beginning to build bridges between species. It’s not about putting a drinking fountain or a bed in the corner; Rethinking home space as a shared ecosystemThere, the perceptual and emotional needs of non-human animals are also as important as our own. The result of this new movement in design is more than just a house pet friendlybut an environment that recognizes that coexistence is above all a form of dialogue.
Home as a shared ecosystem
Some architects are already looking for ways to materialize this idea. in Pets and humans – Positive Houseby the studio of Luis Velazquez, the house becomes a living terrain where humans and animals coexist out of their differences. Walls curve, gaps become passageways, and pillars widen. Hidden place in the harbor and alternative routes. The result was a shared spatial language that allowed humans to see clean, continuous surfaces, animals, tunnels, passageways, and hiding places, rather than a design “for pets.”
This variety of scales turns the home into an area that each species explores in its own way. The design strives for the house to cease to be a control center and become an extension of the collective formed by the people who live there. And the body, which breathes with different rhythms and perceives with different senses, forces us to think about the following designs. Promote interaction without hierarchy And let the animals participate.
This project is the opposite of this fluid aesthetic. pet houseHDD Studio’s proposes a high-density architecture designed to coexist with 40 cats in a compact apartment. The key is health care, not luxury. This means breathability, durable materials, elevated rest areas, free circulation, etc. Everything is designed to minimize stress and allow cats to maintain their natural daily routine without compromising human habitability. This practical and functional coexistence shows that: Empathy can also be expressed in the form of everyday engineering.
inclusive city
However, the dialogue between architecture and animals is no longer limited to the domestic sphere. In cities where an increasing number of people share their lives with pets, the potential of the public as a space where diverse species can coexist is being rediscovered.
In places like Hong Kong, transportation systems (MTR and public buses) have begun to provide vehicles for animals to travel alongside humans. Theme parks like Ocean Park are organizing days for dogs to visit with their families, and cafes, bars and restaurants are expanding their definition of hospitality to include animals. It’s not a fad, it’s a sign of a cultural shift. Recognition that urban life needs to incorporate animal welfare into its design and ethics.
This change also affects urban planning. In Canada, cities like Ottawa are exploring ways to incorporate animal ownership into society. Apartment housing regulations and in the urban planning process. Allowing pets is no longer enough. You have to think about how to allocate space, how to manage odor, noise and safety, and which materials are best able to coexist without sacrificing aesthetics or comfort. There is also a story that “community Pets allowed”There, animals cease to be appendages and become part of the social and spatial structure of the neighborhood.
Architecture as a language of links
If a house is an ecosystem and a city is a stage for coexistence, then architecture becomes a language of bonding. Design ceases to be a set of material solutions and becomes a grammar of emotion. In a project like Nova pet storeThe Say Architects studio takes this idea to the extreme, commercial space will be reinterpreted as meeting place A place where humans and animals can share sensory experiences. Table heights, visual routes, transitions between service and leisure areas… everything has been adjusted. reduce asymmetry Foster horizontal relationships between people and animals.
These transformations are distributed but growing and represent a paradigm shift. Design for living with animals It should not be understood as urban luxury or aesthetic fashion, but as the recognition that we live in the world with other sentient beings, and that our material decisions affect their well-being.
exhibitions like architecture for dogsThe exhibition at Milan’s ADI Design Museum, promoted by Kenya Hara since 2012, encourages us to think about design from an expanded sensibility. It’s not about doing architecture. for It’s an animal, but with them.
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