In 2010, one of our clients was serving as president of the Houston Heights Association (HHA), a non-profit dedicated to strengthening community ties within a historic and diverse neighborhood. For HHA’s annual gala, local architects were invited to design and donate custom doghouses to be auctioned, with proceeds supporting the organization’s ongoing mission.

It was a cause we believed in and a client we valued, so we gladly took on the challenge. Over a lunch break, our team sketched ideas, set aside a few unsuccessful concepts (including a dog-shaped entry), and landed on a design we knew could work. Construction soon followed — right in a team member’s driveway.

The finished structure stood 4’1” tall and was built entirely from Douglas fir. Its clean, monochromatic form highlighted the assembly method itself. Ten vertical 1-4” posts, each with precut diagonal dado slots, were set into a 2’9” x 3’11” platform base. Into those slots, we inserted 1”x 2” members that created a louvered skin wrapping the exterior. Each corner featured compound mitered joints that were carefully glued, nailed, filled, and sanded for a seamless finish. Inside, three pairs of diagonal cross braces provided lateral stability. The roof was crafted from 1”x 4” members attached to three supporting frame pieces on each side of the slope, then glued and nailed into place.