Novel designs for canine living spaces could start a new trend for dog lovers

Time was when being banished to the doghouse might have meant you were lucky just to have a woof over your head. But a dog's life isn't what it used to be, as a handful of designers seek to elevate the humble kennel into innovative digs many pet owners would envy.

Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara is so sure that doghouses of distinction will become a global trend, he co-founded online project Architecture for Dogs, which supplies free blueprints (as well as instructions and videos) for 13 different do-it-yourself doghouses - or in some cases, oversized toys.

After going into partnership with Imprint Venture Lab of Los Angeles, Hara began pairing architects and designers with specific breeds, his guidelines stating that structures should be tailored to the characteristics, temperaments and living conditions of particular dogs.

As Imprint founder and Architecture for Dogs co-founder Julia Huang puts it, the initiative, reflecting the animal-loving nature of all involved, is a "collection of sincere architectural structures developed in collaboration with world-class architects and designers, with the shared mission of bringing a new kind of joy to the close relationship between dogs and humans".

Hara and Imprint started - and, to date, have remained - small, planning for dogs that generally prefer the cosy indoors to the great outdoors. Furniture and lighting designer Konstantin Grcic came up with a design for a toy poodle called Paramount, which consists largely of a film star's illuminated dressing room mirror, because poodles are said to be smart enough to recognise their own reflections.

Then, the fittingly named Atelier Bow-Wow created a series of zigzag ramps to put dachshunds at the level of their masters' gaze.