Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
6th International Furniture Congress, Trabzon, Türkiye, 2 - 05 Kasım 2020, ss.36
Along with the diversification of lifestyles across time, changes occurring in the interaction between human beings
and animals reshaped common living areas. By taking into consideration the factors such as the ease of establishing
ties, ease of care and physical advantages, human beings prefer having cats more often as pets in order to live
together in their own common living areas. The furniture is one of the important tools which satisfy cats’ needs
such as establishing relations and communicating with human beings, strengthening ties between themselves &
human beings and creating a safe zone for themselves. Cat-friendly furniture is the piece of furniture which is
designed to allow the cat and/or human being to meet their needs and to perform their activities on a daily basis.
In this study, the furniture utilized in housing units was analyzed as it acted as the place where human being and
cat spent most of their time together. Furniture was analyzed under four categories in terms of the purpose of its
uses in the housing unit (self-care/activity), its relationship with the space (fixed/mobile), its relationship with the
user (common/single use) and the mode of production of the design (special fabrication/mass-production). In terms
of the purpose of uses of furniture, the study addressed compulsory forms of furniture by which cat could satisfy
its self-care needs such as nourishment, toilet and scratching and evaluated pieces of furniture equipped with
alternative functions through which the cat could enjoy activities such as playing games, sleeping, climbing and
hiding. Upon the examination of the relationship of furniture with the space in which it existed, the furniture was
categorized as fixed and mobile. Moreover, upon the review of the relationship of furniture with the user, the
furniture was categorized into two groups as common use and single use furniture on the basis of its joint use by
human being and cat. As per the mode of production, it was discerned that the furniture was designed to be specialfabrication and mass-production on the basis of basic needs, forms, aesthetics and spatial harmony concerns. In
this connection, by examining samples of furniture in terms of above four categories identified in the context of
this study, the study aimed to analyze the effect of cat-friendly furniture on furniture design in housing units at the
intersection of human being, cat and space.