Research Stories

One of the winning designs was the Dog Pod, designed around the movements and behaviors of the sleeping and resting dog.

The doghouse is getting a makeover for the 21st century. But you can bet your pooper-scooper that little Rover or Fido has never seen anything quite like this.

Doggy’s new digs are the result of a challenge issued to students from Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Their task: design a dog house that incorporates recycled materials, can be easily constructed and transported, provides sufficient ventilation and insulation, and can be easily cleaned. Oh, and it must be a place in which a dog wants to dwell.

The ASU students teamed up with PetSmart to create a prototype doghouse. Their new design is better suited to your pooch’s needs. It’s also Earth-friendly.

The designers are first-year graduate students in the advanced studio design course taught by Jason Griffiths, an ASU architecture professor. The students had plenty to evaluate before creating their designs. They had to consider canine lounging behavior, the natural elements, and the American human-dog relationship. Research studies show that 81 percent of dogs don’t actually sleep outside—but they love to be outside.

“Each fall we look for a project that all students can embrace at the beginning of graduate school. The doghouse design fit the bill,” Griffiths says. “ASU encourages collaboration with industry. We also want our students to creatively push the boundaries of architecture. We want them to design more sustainable products—those that are sustainable in both materials and manufacturing processes.”

The students had just three weeks to develop their concept. What they created completely re-conceptualizes the doghouse design. You know the old design. Think of Snoopy’s house in the comic strip Peanuts. The structure mimics g a human home with gabled roof. The design has generally been the same since the 19th century.

New designs from the ASU students include models that range from classy bamboo abodes that double as human bedside tables, to “living” outdoor structures that use natural plants to provide shade. There are chic egg-shaped “dog pods” with removable roofs. There are collapsible tent-like structures, a “bark-o-lounger,” and a domed structure with louvered roof that throws shade according to the seasonal shifts of the sun.

A total of 60 designs were winnowed to 20 finalists. Those were displayed as models at the PetSmart headquarters in Phoenix. Employees voted on their favorites. The votes were taken into consideration by a roundtable of judges that eventually narrowed the designs down to three winners.

Each winner received a $1,000 scholarship from PetSmart. The money will fund the fabrication of their concepts into professional models. Final prototypes will be displayed at PetSmart’s Greenbuild 2009 Expo booth in Phoenix on November 11-13. Greenbuild is the world’s largest conference and Expo dedicated to green building.

The search for a sustainable doghouse coincides with PetSmart’s Think Twice initiative. The work is aimed at, among other things, supporting green products and partnerships.

“PetSmart launched Think Twice in an effort to become a more environmentally sustainable retailer,” says Suzanne Lindsay, director of PetSmart’s sustainability efforts. The long-term goal is to develop the project in forthcoming design studios at ASU. This first design competition may lead to an in-depth study and full-scale fabrication of a prototype doghouse. That new design will be developed in collaboration with PetSmart.