Lucky dogs
The pooches whose owners secure one of these designer houses will be living in the lap of luxury. The Humane Society of Tampa Bay benefits, too.
By JUDY STARK, Times Staff Writer
Published October 18, 2003
TAMPA - Being in the doghouse was never like this.
Not with recessed lighting, showers, speakers, solar air conditioning, or a water bowl that refills itself automatically.
Or an imaginary dog circus (think of Plexiglas walls filled with hundreds of yellow tennis balls). A copper-domed castle. Windows shaped like dog biscuits.
These designer dog domains were created by local artists, architects, contractors and builders as a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. The project, known as the "Bow Wow Haus," aims to bring "barkitechture" to the area, said Jay Goulde, executive director of the Outdoor Arts Foundation, which is coordinating the project.
Sixteen of the completed designer doghouses are on display now at Reeves Import Motor Cars at 11333 N Florida Ave. Another 24 go on display Nov. 16 at the former Eckerd on Swann Avenue in Old Hyde Park Village.
In January, half the doghouses will move to Tampa International Airport and half to WestShore Plaza. The houses will be auctioned in May to benefit the Humane Society, Goulde said. He directed last year's Tampa Bay Tour of Turtles, in which artists and students painted 90 6-foot fiberglass turtles that were displayed in public venues and auctioned as a charity fundraiser.
"The participants really poured out their heart and soul. They really went all out," Goulde said. "They took it seriously. It's not a joke. There are some cutting-edge designs, and they spent hours and hours on these. They stepped up to the challenge," and in some cases spared no expense, he said.
Goulde said he didn't know what each design team spent, but "There's one house with a curved glass roof that cost $1,600 alone," he said. Some participants sought donations from their usual vendors: Heery International received contributions of a precast concrete foundation and a leather cushion, he said.
The doghouse by Collman & Karsky Architects took between 120 and 150 hours to build, project architect Derek Ray said. The design is based on the company's logo and colors of blue and coppery gold. It embodies passive cooling techniques (other than panting) to cool the occupants: horizontal fins to provide shade, slits in the vertical walls to allow hot air to exit, deeply set windows to create cross-ventilation. "It took a couple of weeks to design and five weeks to build, much longer than we thought," the architect acknowledged. Cost: $500, he estimated. "I was getting a little nervous, because we kept going back to Home Depot," he said.
The artists include Todd Ramquist and Kiaralinda, the over-the-top Safety Harbor duo who call themselves the whimsy twins; and Theo Wujcik, a local modern artist and muralist with a national following. Alvarez Homes, Fleischman Garcia Architects and Urban Studio Architects are among the architects and builders.
The participants had three restrictions (and money was not among them). The size range is from 3 by 3 by 3 feet to 6 by 6 by 6 feet. The houses can weigh no more than 500 pounds. And they all had to be capable of housing a real dog. "This is not balsa wood and foam core. This is not a model," Goulde said. "It had to be something a dog could live in." One of the houses, with speakers, electricity and running water, could house a Bucs fan on a Sunday afternoon.
From a design, construction and artistic standpoint, Goulde said, each one "can stand on its own as magnificent doghouse."
- Information from Times files was used in this report.
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