Architectural Digest

“10 Architects Create Stylish Doghouses—for a Good Cause.” Keller, Hadley. July 30, 2018.
see full article online here
see project page here

Fourteen-year-old Sagaponack resident Luke Louchheim loves animals and architecture, two interests that don't often intersect. This summer, though, he found a way to bridge the two—all for a good cause. Louchheim enlisted nine Hamptons-based architects to devise miniature structures for man's best friend, then matched the architects with local builders to bring the designs for life. The result? Ten strikingly creative pet homes (Louchheim also made one himself), which will be auctioned at the Animal Rescue Fund's Bow Wow Meow Ball on August 18 (and online here). Besides benefitting rescue animals, the project was also an interesting design challenge for architects and builders whose usual bread and butter veers more McMansion than tiny house. "I live in an area where big gigantic houses are going up left and right, so I wanted to see what the local talent could do on a much smaller scale," says Louchheim. "Most exciting is the beauty and variety of the finished structures. The materials include fishing pallets salvaged at a Montauk dock, shag rug, mirrored siding, cement, stone, wood, steel, live plants, and more." Click through to see the miniature masterpieces and bid online if you find one perfect for your own little Fido. Le Corbusier got his start in architecture at the age of 15 by attending École des Arts Décoratifs; Mies van der Roche, who coined the phrase “less is more,” traded in his brick mason trowel at 19 to study with an architect; Peter Zumthor learned the basics of architectural design as a carpenter in his teenage years—and Luke Louchheim, a rising ninth-grader at Pierson High School in Sag Harbor, may have just taken his biggest step toward a career in architecture by organizing a doghouse auction to benefit the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons.