The owners of these feline-focused houses understand that humans don’t own cats – it’s the other way around. They commissioned interior designers and architects to build cat walkways, window nooks, climbing shelves and chic glass lounges right into the design of their homes, whether to boldly put their cats front-and-center or subtly take advantage of unused vertical space. These streamlined modern results prove you can craft a home that meets your pets’ needs without looking like you live in an animal shelter.

Built-In Cat Bedroom by INDOT

Taiwan-based studio INDOT gave a pair of cats a bedroom of their own with a modern glass enclosure full of wooden perches. The ‘floating’ box hangs within a recessed wall of the living room, giving the family a view of their pets. Wooden slats on two sides offer ventilation.

Built-In Bookcase for Cats by BFDO Architects

Barker Freeman Architects (BFDO) call this project “House for Booklovers and Cats,” and it’s easy to see why. “The clients, an artist/poet/professor and a poetry & literature library administrator, asked us to convert this Brooklyn rowhouse into a series of lively, light-filled spaces,” they say. “They also wanted the house to provide accommodations for their two shy but inquisitive cats – including ways for the cats to slip away from unexpected guests. The key feature of the reconfigured house is an airy parlor floor living space. The 20-by-50 foot room is bordered by bookshelves configured around cat circulation routes. Shelves project to create steps for the cats to climb up to a continuous open ledge where they can observe activities below.”

Loft H by ST Studio

The owner of this Taipei apartment included his two cats in the design scheme from the very beginning, asking ST Studio to keep their needs in mind, too. As a result, the design team transformed the two-bedroom apartment into an open-plan studio so the cats can freely roam, with plenty of natural light, plants and staggered shelving for them to play on. Note the subtle cat walkway that runs over the living room windows.

Inside Out by Takeshi Hosaka Architects

The entire premise of ‘Inside Out’ by Takeshi Hosaka Architects is that designing our homes around cats actually improves the quality of our own lives, too. What do indoor house cats want, after all? Lots of sunshine to lounge in, the feeling of being outside while also being safe, and plenty of nooks to investigate. Japanese studio Takeshi Hosaka enclosed the private core of the home within an outer envelope to create liminal spaces with access to fresh air and even rain. They wanted the experience of being in the house to feel like being outside.

House-Is by Do Do

Yet another ‘catwalk’ is incorporated right into the design of a home with Tokyo-based studio Do Do’s ‘House-Is’ project, a renovation for a graphic designer and his wife that adds built-in elements and workspace into a small house clad in black corrugated metal. The catwalk runs along the entirety of the first floor.

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High Feline Design 10 Modern Homes With Built In Cat Friendly Features

If we’re going to keep animals in artificial environments to make money off gawking at them, you’d hope we’d at least design these structures sensitively, hiring top architects to give them the kind of loving care we’d give to our own homes. Whether building spacious zoo enclosures mimicking natural environments, bat-friendly bridges, stables to house horses in ultimate comfort or wildlife crossings over highways, this collection of animal-centric architecture aims to be the next best thing to leaving animals in the wild where they belong, and giving them plenty of space from human activity.

Panda House by Bjarke Ingels Group / BIG

BIG designed a circular indoor/outdoor enclosure for giant pandas at the Copenhagen Zoo, set to open in 2018. The spacious and lushly planted structure will house two pandas relocated from Chengdu, China in a layout inspired by the Chinese yin-yang symbol, with each half tilting up at either end. There’s a bamboo forest on one side and a denser ‘misty’ forest on the other to represent the panda’s habitats in the wild.

Bat-Friendly Bridge by NEXT Architecture

This bridge by Next Level Architecture in South Holland doubles as a bat habitat, with just a few modifications to a conventional bridge design, providing an example that could be replicated all over the world. Spanning a river that’s an important natural pathway for the local bat population, the bridge features extra-thick concrete to increase its thermal mass, making it warm for winter hibernation and a cool summer nesting spot.

Raven Enclosure at the Tower of London by Llowarch Llowarch Architects

Five oak and mesh aviaries by Llowarch Llowarch Architects contrast with the ancient forms of the Tower of London, replacing the ‘ad hoc collection of sheds’ once used to house the complex’s famous resident ravens. According to English legend, if the ravens ever leave the Tower of London, the kingdom will fall – so the birds have been protected inhabitants of the historic palace, fortress and prison since the 17th century. Of course, different ravens have come and gone over the years.

Finnish Stables by Pook

Local architecture studio Pook designed this stylish stable on the edge of a Finnish forest to blend in with the rural setting and complement the local architectural vernacular. The layout creates wind shelters in outdoor spaces to protect the horses against the southwestern winds. Inside, there’s an open room for feeding and walking the horses, storage for equipment and a barn for manure. The use of untreated pine in the cladding helps naturally control the humidity of the environment for the horses’ health.

Kangaroo Enclosure by White Arkitekter

Another modern addition to the Copenhagen Zoo is this cylindrical house for Tasmanian kangaroos by White Arkitekter, which allows visitors to enter the kangaroos’ enclosure without stressing the animals. Part of the enclosure is for the kangaroos themselves, with a heated concrete floor to keep them warm in winter. The slatted timber doors can be folded back to open parts of the space to the wider enclosure, while others remain closed so shy kangaroos can have their privacy.

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Architecture For Animals 13 Structures Designed With Non Human Use In Mind

We don’t own our cats, they own us – and these fun feline furniture designs celebrate their rightful places in our homes. That is, sneering down at us from elevated perches on the walls and ceiling, as is befitting of their status. From modern cat beds that look right at home beside Arne Jacobsen chairs and modular cardboard box play sets to entire custom habitats built into their humans’ houses, these cool cat-centric products go way beyond what you’ll find at your local pet store.

All-Seeing Cats: Ceiling-Mounted Feline Playgrounds

Our feline overlords can literally look down upon us from their elevated perches in this series of wall- and ceiling-mounted cat furniture by Goldtatze. German company Goldtatze designs modular elements that can be combined in various ways to create unique feline playgrounds with bridges, hammocks, scratching posts, beds and little covered houses with holes so they can stay hidden while silently judging you from above.

4 Sculptural Modern Cat Houses by Architecture

A group of architects teamed up to produce sculptural modern cat furniture for the Giving Shelter fundraiser, which donated its proceeds to the non-profit, cat-focused organization FixNation. The same attention to detail that you’d see in a human house was applied to these structures , many of which combine cat comfort with functionality for their human owners.

Meyou Cat Cocoons

For everyone who’s ever lamented the gaudy cat bed selection at a local pet store, there’s Meyou, a line of modern minimalist cat furniture by Parisian designer Aude Sanchez. These cocoon-like beds feature spherical, replaceable inserts that allow cats to scratch the temptingly nubbly surface to their hearts’ content.

Cat Study House: A Tent for Cats

Give your kitty (or small dog) her very own tent with Cat Study House, a portable yet sturdy little shelter made from canvas, a bamboo framework and joints made of copper and acrylic. It’s lightweight, washable and features a little porthole at the top so your pets can keep an eye on you.

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Most people treat their pets like members of the family, but when they are REALLY treated as members of the family (i.e., they have their own room) things can get pretty wild. Some of the coolest pet habitations are seamless integrations between the non-bipedal members of the family’s habitations, and the rest of the house.

(Images via failblog, nerdbastards, tecnicalia, robotmutant)

Yes, there are dorky pets out there that prefer to hang out on sci-fi themed platforms. Fans of the television show Doctor Who will recognize his famous time-traveling device, while Star Trek fans won’t even need a double take to recognize the Starship Enterprise.

(Images via fishingfury, unusuals-things, unusuals-things)

Fish get bored in one tank; it’s a scientific fact. If the human members of a household have more than one room, it only makes sense to extend this courtesy to the gilled house-members as well. These awesome inter-connected aquariums are wonderful to look at, but would not be fun to clean.

(Images via awesomehamsterhomes, baby-gaga, apartmenttherapy, freeimagefinder)

The famous hamster wheel doesn’t have to stick out like such a sore thumb. Here are some awesome examples of animal abodes that would look great in any room, or would at least be a great conversation starter. The Ant Farm at bottom left is kept in the backyard and is bound to stand out during a backyard barbecue.

(Images via vanessarowanmorrison, doginstructor, thecoolist, bornrich)

Being in the dog house doesn’t have to be such a pain. Aesthetically pleasing, and way overdone, these canine mansions will keep any owner from feeling guilty if they leave the dog out at night.

(Images via untypicallyjia, urlesque, loveitalot)

Most cat owners don’t get very creative with their pet’s play area. Those that do, however, can have quite the imagination. Wacky cat trees are just the beginning, and the end looks something like a cat city (or at least, complex).

(Images via greatgreenpet, moderncat, angelicalcat, freewebs)

Bigger is better, right? This translates to cat trees as much as it does to anything else. So yes, extend it to the ceiling!

(Images via apartmenttherapy, nicedecor)

The variety of cat trees allow the discerning cat owner to choose the perfect decor for their house’s style. Some styles are just a bit stranger than others.

(Images via woohome, mycatgoma, urlesque, lifewithlilly, healthypetu, lifewithlilly, freshwallpaper)

The grand finale: Cat houses that truly incorporate feline preferences into the overall design. Some of the structures are actually integrated quite well into the structure of the home, and are arguably more attractive than a random 4 foot high cat tree covered in rope.