Open Collections

Abstract

Catopia begins from a simple feeling: images move fast online, but care happens in person. I partnered with the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) Cat Sanctuary in Richmond, BC — a no-euthanasia refuge with aging pens and real daily constraints — to explore how design can borrow the language of the camera without turning animals into content. The project treats five camera foundations as spatial tools and prototypes them as small, retrofittable rooms that prioritise feline welfare: the Frame Pen invites visitors to wait while cats choose the scene, with a peephole wall that lets cats “frame” people; the Aperture Pen is a quiet chroma-green landscape that supports nap-anywhere behaviour and makes the ease of context erasure visible; the Dark Pen is exposed for cats, not humans; low light, soft acoustics, and a grove of scratching columns that slow bodies; the Glass Pen places a habitat behind a double-skin gallery where pixelated translucent glass turns details into silhouettes so gestures, not grabs, guide interaction; and the Filter Pen uses a coloured glass vault and perforated underlay to translate colour grading into gentle daily cues while offering moving “stars” to chase without lasers. Across pens, a concise feline brief pairs with an operations baseline and an ethics note that centers care over content. More than photogenic sets, Catopia offers a low-cost kit of parts others can tune : turning scrolling habits into spatial cues that slow us down, honour cats as agents, and make room for attention, consent, and everyday care.