The Doghouse : Cooper Hewitt Museum of Design : 1990

Designers were invited by Cooper Hewitt and Guiding Eyes for the Blind to bring their own observations to the problem of designing a "better" doghouse. each design team was provided with an identical set of requirements that served as a departure point for exploring the formal, practical, and conceptual possibilities of the doghouse. A further challenge was added in the request that the houses be designed to appeal to senses other than just visual.

The All Seeing 'Eye' doghouse was conceived as the home of a seeing eye dog...a contradiction since seeing eye dog's remain with their owners.

Entering via the ramp the doghouse rocks on a pivot to activate chimes suspended from the underside to alert the blind owner that the occupant is home.

Side portals with braille plaques hinge and allow access for petting, each plaque describes a body part. The rear portal provides access to the cantilevered water bowl identified in braille as "wet end". The structure is held in suspension within the skeleton of a mythical all seeing animal. The project was constructed from aromatic cedar sheathing and metal flashing.

Extensively published, the Doghouse was auctioned to raise funds for Guiding Eyes for the blind. It is currently included in the book Barkitecture by Fred Albert published by Abbeville Press.