– Inman News Staff Writer
Responding to Japan’s love of pets,
several architects have established a new, niche trend within their industry:
pet-friendly home design. With the world’s lowest birth rate — an estimated 7.3
births for every 1,000 people — Japan is home to many young couples who choose
pets in lieu of children.
Additionally, many older couples in
Japan revere dogs and cats. "For people who have pets, they’re like
family," said Akira Koyama, the owner and representative director of
Tokyo-based Key Operation Inc., an architecture firm. And there is a market for
pet-focused design, said Koyama, who designed a residence dubbed "House
Taishido," or "Cat House." Located in a densely populated urban
district west of Tokyo, the three-story, 30-square-meter home features stepping-stone-like
shelves that allow the home’s feline resident to navigate vertically into and
out of the main living room via small openings. The small openings in the wall
lead to other rooms on the first floor.
The cat can also access the second
floor of the unit by walking up the shelves and slipping through a slot that
functions as a cat-only portal. Freeing up the unit’s staircase from cat
traffic allows the space to double as a home library, with bookcases and space
for reading.
According to Koyama, the house was not
initially designed to be a "cat house," and those features took shape
later in the design stages. "It wasn’t too expensive (to add the cat
features), and was quite fun," he said, adding that the home’s design
focused on creating a space with rooms of different heights and sizes connected
by doorless transitions and windows. This initial design concept inadvertently
made for excellent cat mobility. While the cat-friendly features implemented by
Key Operations weren’t conceived during initial design, another Tokyo-based
firm designs homes specifically with pets in mind. Fauna Plus DeSIGN and its
director, Keiji Hirose, are known for designing a custom home for 16 cats. The
heart of the home features a cat-climbing tree that serves as a spiral staircase
leading up to a catwalk on the second floor of the unit, according to a website
detailing that project. The catwalk forms a zigzag design and can also be
accessed via steps that protrude from the wall, similar to House Taishido’s
shelves. Several of the steps are next to small holes in the walls that lead to
other rooms.
One of the home’s most unique features
is an enclosed, see-through cat tunnel at floor level in the den, which
stretches around the room. The homeowners’ audio equipment, records and
entertainment center are atop the tunnel. From the tunnel, cats can access a
cats-only "playroom" space at the corner of one window in the master
bedroom. Other cat-friendly features of that home include: a cat-accessible
loft that features skylights and windows; a multistage cube of shelves with cat
beds; and a floor-to-ceiling scratching post column, wrapped in hemp rope.
According to Fauna Plus DeSIGN estimates, the cost to design a two-story,
detached wooden home built to cat specifications ranges from 3.2 million yen
(about $42,000 in U.S. dollars) for a 20-square-meter space (about 215 square
feet) — on up to 13 percent of the total construction costs for a space
measuring more than 50 square meters (about 538 square feet), the company
reports. If 16 cats weren’t enough, the residence also houses five dogs, which
are separated from the cats via a glass door. To house the dogs and allow them
outside access, Fauna designed a rooftop garden. The firm is experienced with
dog-focused projects, too, as its two most recent projects involved the design
of an indoor waterproof kennel for the home of two dachshunds and the remodel
of an apartment that houses a basset hound. Features of a dog-friendly home
typically include proper ventilation to eliminate hair shed; odor absorbent
materials; and a dog shower or toilet. "For dogs it’s … more difficult
(than designing a home for cats)," Koyama said, adding that special
attention must be given to materials used for the floors and stairs. The cost
to design a two-story wooden home to dog specifications can range from 3
million yen (about $39,000 in U.S. dollars) for a 20-square-meter space (about
215 square feet) up to 12 percent of total construction costs for a space
exceeding 50 square meters (about 538 square feet). Fauna isn’t the only
company to corner the dog-friendly niche, as major Japanese homebuilder Asahi
Kasei Homes provides homes with dog-specific features, such as showers that can
accommodate a dog weighing up to 100 kilograms (about 220 pounds). Other
dog-friendly home features include: dog-level peepholes in garden walls, pet-door
installations in each room, outdoor courtyards in dense urban housing areas,
and scratch-resistant flooring. Cat- and dog-friendly home design, while
gaining momentum in Japan, is not isolated to that island nation. "I’ve
never had anyone ask me specifically about a house design (related to
pets)," said Jane Miller, who markets herself as "Charleston’s Pet
Friendly Realtor" at Carolina One Real Estate. However, some clients with
pets do desire amenities like fenced-in yards and resilient flooring. After a
sale, pet-loving homeowners may choose to add such pet features as a dog-only
shower or a kennel run, Miller said. "I do think there’s a market,"
she said, for homes designed with pets in mind, "(at the) very high-end
level. But the average person wouldn’t pay extras for design features,"
she said. - See more at: http://www.inman.com/2011/09/16/a-home-thats-fit-a-cat/#sthash.x1yWukPt.dpuf
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