YUMING BAI
Fabrication · Furniture

Woof and Meow House

An open-source, flat-pack winter shelter for stray cats and dogs.

Year
2014
Role
Product design, manufacturing negotiation, graphics and video, with dot Architects
Tags
product design · flat-pack · open source · prototyping
A tabby cat standing at the entrance of a white gabled shelter on a garden bench
Photo by Sabrina Hu

Woof and Meow House is a project to provide winter shelter for stray dogs and cats. In 2014 a new model, M House 2.0, was launched, with Yuming Bai responsible for product design, manufacturing negotiation, graphic design and video editing at dot Architects.

The finished M House 2.0 on its timber base frame

Iterations

Version 1.0, designed in 2013, was costly, difficult to assemble and heavy to ship. Later versions moved to flat-pack cardboard, added Velcro at the weak roof and wall joints, then switched to PP plastic hollow sheet for waterproofing and high-density foam for insulation.

Early prototype with a quilted roof on a slatted base Early timber-faced prototype

Cardboard prototypes of the shelter

Folding a die-cut PP sheet shell on the workshop floor Fitting foam insulation panels into the shell

M House 2.0

The outer shell folds from a single die-cut PP hollow sheet, and the base frame is assembled from eight CNC-cut rods that lift the house off wet ground. The drawings and instruction manual were published online so that anyone could make one.

Unfolded shell with foam panels in place CNC-cut base frame next to the folded shell