This time, the customers of the New York architects were not clerks, not artists, or even housewives, but cats, moreover, homeless cats, of which there are several thousand in Manhattan alone. Architects for Animals invited by the charitable organization Architects for Animals have developed projects of inexpensive cozy houses, spacious and warm enough for stray animals to survive the coldest months of the year.
Working on the cat mini-hotels, the architects tried to take into account the predilections of the four-legged guests. So, for example, it is known that cats feel the safest in compact enclosed spaces (even any domestic cat will prove this to you, you should put a box of shoes or equipment in front of him), and also prefer places located at a certain height from the ground or gender.
The bureau Francis Cauffman Architects took these rules into account most literally in their project, which decided a temporary cat shelter in the form of several boxes stacked on top of each other. Each of the insulated houses has a separate entrance, and they are connected to each other by staircases-ramps running right along the "facade". The architects themselves do not hide that this is an allusion to buildings with external fire escapes, so characteristic of New York.
And if Francis Cauffman Architects designed an apartment building intended for an entire colony of stray cats, the rest of the action participants limited themselves to "cottages" designed for one or two animals. For example, designer Kathryn Walton folded her "cat-kennel" of 300 cans of cat canned food filled with insulation.
Since one of the main requirements for houses was their low cost, many architects relied on materials at hand. For example, H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture has fitted a plastic container for linen under the cathode. Its cover is securely fixed with special clamps, and the entrance is cut from the side. The container is insulated from the inside, and in order to get rid of dampness, it is raised above the ground on a special iron frame.
The Zimmerman Workshop used a moss-sprouted mesh as the outer enclosure. According to the architects, such walls will help hide a house in a park or square and thereby save cats from overly curious children.
Well, the most successful project for a temporary home for New York cats was the concept of M Moser Associates, which proposed compact wooden "birdhouses" on supports of different heights. Painted in green and blue (it is their cats that are best distinguished) and insulated with natural materials, these houses are well ventilated in summer and are able to keep warm in the cold season.
A. M.
