For thousands of years, humans have designed the world to suit them, with homes that protect them from the cold, cities that speed up the pace of life, and streets that regulate the flow of human bodies. But something changes. Coexistence with animals enters a new phasemore aware and symbiotic. Today, space is no longer viewed only as a refuge for humans, but as a common stage.
Architecture, which had long served to separate the human from the natural, began to build bridges between species. It’s not about putting fountains or drinking beds in the corner; Reimagining home space as a shared ecosystemwhere the cognitive and emotional needs of non-human animals are as important as our own. The result of this new movement in design is not just another home Pet friendlyBut Bee’ah recognizes that coexistence is, above all, a form of dialogue.
The home as a shared ecosystem
Some architects are already exploring how to realize this idea. in Pets and People – Positive Homeby Ruiz Velázquez Studio, the house becomes a living terrain where humans and animals of difference coexist. The walls curve, the gaps turn into corridors, and the columns expand into them Hiding places in the port And alternative methods. The result is not a “pet” design, but seeks to be a common spatial language where humans see clean, continuous surfaces, animals, tunnels, corridors and hiding places.
This multiplicity of scales turns the house into an area where each genre is explored in its own way. The design attempts to prevent the house from being a control center to become an extension of the collective body that consists of those who inhabit it. That body, which breathes with different rhythms and perceives with different senses, forces us to think about design Encourage interaction without hierarchy And allow the animal to participate.
In contrast to this fluid aesthetic is the project Pet housefrom HDD Studio, proposes a high-density structure designed to coexist with forty cats in a small apartment. The key is not luxury, but luxury management: ventilation, resistant materials, elevated comfort zones, free circulation. Everything is designed to reduce stress and allow cats to maintain their natural routine without compromising human habitability. This practical and functional coexistence demonstrates this Empathy can also be expressed in the form of everyday architecture.
Comprehensive cities
But the dialogue between architecture and animals is no longer limited to the domestic sphere. Cities, increasingly inhabited by humans who share their lives with pets, are rediscovering the potential of the public as a multi-species space.
In places like Hong Kong, transit systems (MTR or public buses) have begun to provide vehicles in which animals travel alongside humans. Theme parks like Ocean Park organize days that dogs can visit with their families, and cafes, bars and restaurants are expanding their definition of hospitality to include animals. It is not a fad, but rather a symptom of a cultural shift towards… Recognizing that urban living must integrate animal welfare into its design and ethics.
This change also affects urban planning. In Canada, cities like Ottawa are considering how to integrate animal ownership into society Multifamily housing regulations And in urban planning processes. Allowing pets is no longer enough, now we have to think about how to distribute spaces, how to manage odors, noise or safety, and what materials tolerate coexistence best without sacrificing aesthetics or comfort. There’s even talk about “Communities Pets included“Where animals stop being an addition and become part of the social and spatial structure of the neighborhood.
Architecture as a language of association
If the house is an ecosystem and the city is a theater of coexistence, then architecture becomes the language of interconnection. Design ceases to be a set of material solutions and becomes rules of influence. In projects such as Nova pet storefrom studio Say Architects, takes this idea to the extreme Commercial spaces It is reinterpreted as Meeting places Where humans and animals can exchange sensory experiences. Table heights, visual paths, transitions between service and entertainment areas… everything is adjustable Reduce asymmetry Strengthening the horizontal relationship between people and their animals.
These shifts, sporadic and growing, point toward a paradigm shift. Design for living with animals We should not understand this as urban luxury or aesthetic fashion, but as a recognition that we inhabit the world with other sentient beings, and that our material decisions have consequences for their well-being.
Exhibitions such as Architecture for dogsat the ADI Design Museum in Milan, and which Kenya Hara has been promoting since 2012, invites us to think about design through that expanded sensibility. It’s not about architecture to Animals but With them.
About The Author
