architecture for dogs exhibition opens in ADI design museum

ADI Design Museum welcomes Architecture for Dogs exhibition

ADI Design Museum in Milan hosts the exhibition Architecture for Dogs, curated by MUJI artistic director and Japanese designer, Kenya Hara. Running between December 3rd, 2024 and February 16th, 2025, renowned architects and studios design their iteration of doghouses. It’s not just the typical V-shaped roof with an arched hole as the entrance. In the exhibition, the architecture for dogs ranges from ramps, cushions, and rugs to benches and even vertical doghouses, all of which are tailored to the usual needs of a specific breed. Kenya Hara and Hara Design Institute curates the exhibition, which marks its debut in Italy after the 2020 showcase in London, as an ‘island’.

The doghouses are spread out, so visitors can observe them individually. As they roam around, they find the architecture for dogs, built by some of the recognized architects and designers such as Kengo Kuma, Konstantin Grcic, MAD’s Ma Yansong, MVRDV, Shigeru Ban, Sou Fujimoto, Piero Lissoni, Giulio Iacchetti, Toyo Ito, TORAFU Architects, Asif Khan, Kenya Hara, Kazuyo Sejima, Reiser + Umemoto, Atelier Bow-Wow, FGMF, and Hiroshi Naito. Photos and video insights accompany the exhibition, and all of them explore the relationship between architecture and the furry pets, and how the former can serve as a language shared by all living species.

Kengo Kuma | all images courtesy of ADI Design Museum

blueprints of the showcased doghouses can be downloaded

Visitors to the ADI Design Museum in Milan can be curious as to how the architecture of the doghouses is made, or if they can build one similar to what the architects and studios created. Luckily, their blueprints and instructions for the designs are free to download online, and if they feel like doing the work, they can tweak the style to suit their dog’s needs. Many, if not all, of the architectural works are playful and fitting for the vigorous energy of the dogs. Wood becomes a primary material for some of the architects, including Kengo Kuma’s dome-shaped tent with open lattices, Shigeru Ban’s maze-like bamboo tubes, and MVRDV’s see-saw, curved home. It’s the same material that Kenya Hara and Giulio Iacchetti work with.

The former turns wood into a tunnel box with a staircase, while the latter rebuilds it as yurt-inspired architecture for dogs. Hiroshi Naito cuts up wood into slabs to place between his tubes, creating a seemingly treadmill structure, and Toyo Ito has a toddler’s stroller in mind when he weaves wood into a basket cart. In the exhibition, other domestic textiles and materials have been transformed into structures for dogs. A furry bean bag makes up Kazuyo Sejima’s design so the dogs can cozily take their naps, and TORAFU Architects invokes a summery vibe when they hang the stretchy stripe fabric over a wooden chair frame. The exhibition is backed and supported by Imprint Culture Lab, Riva 1920, and Giorgio Armani, who created a dog-focused capsule collection in collaboration with Poldo Dog Couture.

Shigeru Ban makes maze-like path with bamboo tubes