puppy love – The dog House
A very unique commission by Atelier About Architecture, where all materials, even furniture and decoration, are almost completely centered on the resident dog’s habits and needs. Due to chromosomal differences, dogs are less capable to identify colours 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 colour segments in between in the colour spectrum. Therefore, the architect tried to enclose a space by structuring colours in this project, together with the direct and indirect rendering of lights, to guide and effect and mood of spaces.
Spaces for the owner alone are basically grey, dark grey, light grey and white; while functional spaces for the dog are more colorful. There are 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.
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 an operation floor for routine physical exams and medical care of the dog. The resident dog is extremely sensitive to the touch of materials due to the 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.