Architecture Firms Create High-Design Cat Shelters

In Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the enigmatic Holly Golightly says of her beloved nameless cat, "We just sort of took up by the river one day, we don’t belong to each other: He’s an independent, and so am I." In the novella, Golightly disappears, and the cat is spotted months later, resettled and peering contentedly out of an apartment window. But not every feline has such luck, and most strays simply wander, more alone than "independent." Knowing this, FixNation, a Los Angeles–based nonprofit that helps reduce the stray-cat population through a safe Trap-Neuter-Return practice, called on Architects for Animals to commission notable L.A. firms to create artful outdoor cat shelters. Displayed during "Giving Shelter," an event hosted earlier this month by Architects for Animals to benefit FixNation, the structures range from adaptable, Brutalist-style hideaways to avant-garde benches with space for humans and cats alike.

Click here to see more of these shelters lovingly built for feline comfort .

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