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Structures for animals

Design Project 5 weeks Large build

Design and build a structure for an animal that will actually use it. A solitary bee hotel, a bird or bat box, a cat tower, a catio, a dog house. The client cannot read your drawings, so the research has to be right.

A cedar solitary bee hotel with removable paper-lined tubes and a sloped roof, mounted on a fence post in morning sun, with a small cat tower and a plywood dog house visible on a workbench behind it.

Overview

Most things you design are for people, who will tell you when something is wrong. This client will not. A bee hotel with tubes too wide fills with parasites. A bird box with a perch on the front is a feeder for predators. A cat tower that wobbles gets used once. A dog house that is too big is cold. The animal does not complain; it just does not use it, or it uses it and gets hurt. So the research carries more weight here than in any other project, and the numbers in your drawing have to come from people who study the animal.

Pick a client. Solitary bees (mason and leafcutter bees, not honeybees) need dry tubes of the right diameters, deep, facing morning sun, with a roof and a way to replace the tubes each year. Cavity-nesting birds need a box with a hole sized for one species, no perch, drainage, ventilation and a door you can open to clean. Bats need a tall, narrow, warm box with a rough landing strip. A cat needs height, a stable base, a place to scratch and a place to hide. A cat that goes outside needs a catio that a raccoon cannot open. A dog needs a house sized to curl up in, off the ground, insulated, with the door offset from the sleeping spot.

Then design it the way you would design anything: sketches, a model with parameters, a prototype, a build, a test. The test is the animal.

Skills needed

  • Researching an animal as a clientresource comingWhat it needs, what it fears, what kills it. Sizes from field guides and conservation groups, not from decor blogs. Two sources that agree before a number goes in the drawing.
  • Designing for outdoors and for clawsUntreated cedar or exterior plywood, stainless or coated fasteners, drainage, ventilation, a roof that sheds water, and joints that survive a winter or a cat.
  • Modelling and cut lists in FusionThe structure as an assembly with parameters for the animal's dimensions, so the same design fits a different bird or a bigger dog.
  • Laser-cut and printed detailsFinger-jointed nest boxes, engraved species labels, printed entrance guards, tube holders and cleaning trays.
  • Stability and loadA cat tower with a 6 kg cat at the top, a catio someone leans on, a dog house a person stands on. Base width, centre of mass, fastener count.
  • Testing with the userresource comingInstall it where it belongs and watch. Occupancy is the test. Cats and dogs vote in minutes; bees and birds take a season, so design for how you will know.

Assessment

Criterion Developing Proficient Exemplary
Species brief General facts, no numbers, one source Requirements as numbers, each with a credible source; risks to the animal listed Brief anticipates a conflict between sources or between the animal and the owner and resolves it
Concept and decision One idea, built Three concepts scored against the brief; choice explained Chosen concept solves the hardest requirement in a way the others did not
CAD and cut list Model without parameters; cut list has errors Parametric assembly; cut list matches the build Change the animal’s size and the model and cut list regenerate correctly
Build quality Gaps, exposed fasteners, wobble, rough interior Tight joints, fasteners set, stable, interior safe to touch Weatherproofing and cleaning access designed in, not added; finish only where allowed
Fit to the animal Dimensions differ from the brief Matches the brief; installed where the brief says Evidence of use, or a clear plan for how use will be measured over a season
Maintenance and log None Maintenance card and an observation log Log leads to a specific v2 change with a reason

Fit to the animal is the criterion that matters most. A beautiful box the wrong size is a failure; a plain box the right size, in the right place, occupied, is a success.

Deliverables

  • A species brief, two pages, with the animal's requirements as numbers and the sources for each, plus what would make it avoid or be harmed by the structure
  • Three concept sketches and a decision matrix scored against the brief
  • A Fusion assembly with the animal's dimensions as parameters, a cut list, and any laser or print files
  • A cardboard or scrap prototype at full size, photographed with the client or a stand-in for scale
  • The finished structure, installed or delivered, weatherproof if it lives outside
  • [object Object]
  • An observation log, with whatever occupancy or use you could record, and one change for v2

Materials

  • Untreated cedar or exterior-grade plywood; never pressure-treated wood where an animal touches it
  • Exterior screws, stainless or coated; exterior wood glue; hinges for cleaning doors
  • 1/8" plywood for laser-cut boxes and labels; PETG or ASA for printed parts that live outside
  • [object Object]
  • [object Object]
  • [object Object]
  • Exterior oil or water-based finish for outside faces only; nothing inside a nest cavity

Steps

Week 1: Choose a client and write the brief

  1. Choose the animal and, where it matters, the species. Choose a real site: a fence, a yard, a room, a tree, a balcony. If there is an owner, they are your second client.
  2. Research from the people who study the animal: conservation and naturalist groups, university extension pages, shelters and veterinary sources. Collect the numbers: entrance size, cavity size, tube diameters and depth, height above ground, facing, materials to avoid, predators to defend against.
  3. Cross-check every number against a second source. Where sources disagree, write both down and pick one with a reason.
  4. Write the brief: requirements as numbers, must-nots, the site, the owner’s needs (cleaning, moving it, how it looks), and how you will know if it worked.
  5. Sketch three concepts against the brief. Score them in a matrix. Pick one.

Week 2: Model and prototype

  1. Model the structure in Fusion as an assembly. The animal’s dimensions are parameters: hole diameter, floor width, tube depth, platform height, door width.
  2. Design for the build: sheet parts for the laser or the table saw, lumber parts for the mitre saw, printed parts where a shape is hard in wood (an entrance guard, a tube holder, a hinge).
  3. Design for the site: mounting, drainage holes, ventilation slots under the roof, a cleaning door with a latch a raccoon cannot work, a roof overhang.
  4. Generate the cut list. Check it against the sheet and lumber you actually have. Nest the laser parts.
  5. Build it full size in cardboard or scrap. Put the client, or a stand-in of the right size, in or on it. Fix what the prototype shows.

Week 3: Build

  1. Cut every part from the cut list before assembling anything. Label each one.
  2. Assemble dry. Check squareness, check the animal-facing dimensions against the brief with a ruler, check the door opens and the roof sheds.
  3. Glue and fasten with exterior fasteners. Set every screw head below the surface where an animal can reach; sand every edge it will touch.
  4. Add the animal-specific parts: tubes with paper liners, a rough landing strip, sisal wrapped tight, mesh fastened every 75 mm, insulation behind an inner wall.
  5. Finish the outside only. Let it off-gas outdoors for a few days before installing.

Week 4: Install and test

  1. Install at the site, at the height and facing from the brief. Photograph it in place with a ruler or a person for scale.
  2. For pets: watch the first hour and the first week. Record what the animal does, where it goes first, what it ignores. Move or adjust if the brief allows.
  3. For wild animals: set up a way to know. A check schedule, a marked tube count, a photo from the same spot each week, a trail camera if one is available. Occupancy may take a season; the plan for measuring it is the deliverable.
  4. Write the maintenance card: what to clean, when in the year, what to replace, what to look for that means trouble. Fix it to the structure or give it to the owner.
  5. Load test anything that carries weight: the 10 kg push at the top, a person leaning on the catio, a dog’s weight on the roof.

Week 5: Record and revise

  1. Compile the observation log with photos and dates.
  2. Write one change for v2 with the evidence behind it, and if it is small, make it.
  3. Present the structure with the brief beside it, so anyone can check the build against the animal’s requirements.

Stretch options

  • Build a set: three bird boxes for three species with the entrance and floor as the only changed parameters.
  • Add a sensor: a beam counter or a small camera on the entrance, logging visits to an SD card.
  • Design for a public site with a plaque that teaches the species’ requirements, and get it installed there.
  • A modular catio panel system with a printed connector, so an owner can add a section later.