好英语网流浪猫新居设计集锦
EIGHT New York City architects and designers proudly displayed their new low-cost houses at a show in Manhattan on Thursday, and not a single client was present. Feral cats are like that.
周四（1月10日），在曼哈顿的一场作品展上，八位来自纽约的建筑设计师骄傲地展示了他们最新设计的低成本住宅，但没有一位住户出席。流浪猫总是这个样子。
No matter, like all good designers, the ones whose work was on display at “Architects for Animals: Giving Shelter,” a daylong event at the Steelcase showroom in Midtown Manhattan, had taken pains to address the needs of the users.
不管怎么说，同所有优秀的设计师一样，参展设计师为满足用户需求可谓绞尽了脑汁。在这场名为“动物们的建筑师：馈赠庇护所”的活动中，设计师们的作品在位于曼哈顿中城(Midtown Manhattan)的Steelcase展厅里展示了一天。
齐默曼建筑设计工作室的索菲亚，同丈夫亚当一起，在一只隔热保温箱的外部包裹上苔藓，并套上一层铁丝网，创造出一款猫窝（苔藓和铁丝网防止风从入口吹进窝里）。
Consider, for example, the Tin Hut, a structure designed by Kathryn Walton, 42, an architectural project manager and the founder of a nonprofit cat-rescue organization in Brooklyn called the American Street Cat. Ms. Walton’s shelter — which, like the rest, will eventually be placed in an area of the city that is home to a colony of feral cats — consists of 300 recycled aluminum cat-food containers insulated with recycled denim. The base is raised four inches off the ground, to keep the cats high and dry in case of snowdrifts; the mat is springy vinyl. The interior, which has a sort of figure-eight shape, is divided in two.
让我们来看看作品。比如，一款叫做“罐头小屋”(Tin Hut)的猫窝，作者是42岁的凯西·沃顿(Kathryn Walton)。她既是一位建筑设计项目经理，也是布鲁克林一家名为“美国街猫”(American Street Cat)的非盈利性猫咪救助机构的创始人。她设计的这个小窝由300只可回收的铝制猫食罐头做成，当中用旧牛仔布隔热。同其它参展猫窝一样，凯西的作品最终也会被放到这个城市里的一片流浪猫聚居的区域去。猫窝将被安置在离地面4英寸（约合10厘米）高的地方，这样就算地面有积雪，也能保证小窝里的干燥舒适；窝里的垫子用具有弹性的乙烯基塑料制成。小窝的内部结构类似数字“8”的形状，被分隔为了两部分。
“We don’t know who sleeps with who,” Ms. Walton said. “But there are some bonded pairs, and this can accommodate up to four cats.”
“我们不知道谁会和谁一起睡，”沃顿说，“但的确有一些出双入对的会睡在一起，而这种设计最多可以容纳四只猫。”
Humans are always carrying on about wanting more light in their homes. Do cats like lots of light as well?
人类总是希望自己家里的采光更好。猫咪也一样喜欢更多光线吗？
“Cats like to find the darkest places to sleep,” Ms. Walton said. “They don’t want to be exposed to foot traffic or vehicular traffic. And if it’s 50 degrees or so, for sure they will be on top of the shelter.”
“猫咪喜欢找最黑暗的地方睡觉，”沃顿说，“它们不喜欢被暴露在车水马龙的地方。而如果气温达到50华氏度（约合10摄氏度）上下，它们就一定会呆在猫窝顶上。”
Very client-friendly and yet, what with all those tin cans, won’t the kitties be likely to cook in the summer?
设计非常“猫性化”。但是到了夏天，住在这么多罐头盒里的猫咪们不会觉得像进了蒸笼吗？
“Yeah,” said Ms. Walton, who has three cats of her own and frequently cares for foster cats, as well as the feral cats in her backyard. “But when I see it getting hot, they don’t need the shelter and I pull it inside.”
“是啊，”沃顿说，“但是等我发现天气转热，它们不再需要猫窝时，我就会把它收进来。”沃顿自己也养了三只猫，还经常帮忙照顾朋友寄养在她家的猫，以及自家后院里的流浪猫。
The number of feral cats in New York City is anyone’s guess. Steve Gruber, the spokesman for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, the nonprofit group that sponsored the fund-raiser, estimates that it is in the hundreds of thousands — or maybe even a million. Regardless, the Alliance, which is not part of the city government, is committed to reducing the number through what it calls TNR: Trap, Neuter, Return.
谁都说不准纽约市里到底有多少只流浪猫。史蒂夫·格鲁伯(Steve Gruber)是非盈利组织“纽约动物市长联盟”（Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals，下称“市长联盟”）的发言人。据他估计，这个数字恐怕要高达几十万，甚至一百万。这家不隶属于纽约市政府任何部门的联盟开展了一项名为“TNR：诱捕(Trap)、绝育(Neuter)、放还(Return)”的行动，致力于减少流浪猫的数量。
The Architects for Animals project is part of that effort. It was started three years ago by Leslie Farrell, who works for an architecture firm called Francis Cauffman, with the goals of bringing attention to the plight of feral cats and recruiting architects to create shelters that are warm, portable, safe, easy to clean and affordable.
“动物们的建筑师”项目也属于“市长联盟”付出的一份努力。项目于三年前发起，发起人是在一家名为弗朗西斯·考夫曼(Francis Cauffman)的建筑设计公司工作的莱斯利·法瑞尔(Leslie Farrell)。这一项目的宗旨，是唤起人们对流浪猫处境的关心，并招募建筑设计师志愿者，为流浪猫建造温暖、便携、安全、易清洁且可负担得起的猫窝。
Unlike most proud architects, however, those who participated in this project couldn’t tell anyone where their buildings would be.
但是不同于大部分为自己作品自豪的建筑设计师，这一项目的参与者不能向任何人透露他们的房子会被盖在哪儿。
“We can’t divulge location because we don’t want to advertise to people the best place to dump your cat,” said Mike Phillips, a veterinarian technician who is a community outreach coordinator for the NYC Feral Cat Initiative, a program sponsored by the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. “And a feral cat colony will not welcome a new cat. It will be chased off.”
麦克·菲利普(Mike Phillips)是一位职业兽医，也是“市长联盟”所赞助的“纽约市流浪猫救助倡议”(NYC Feral Cat Initiative)项目的社区协调员。他说：“我们不能透露放置猫窝的位置，因为我们不想提示人们遗弃自家猫咪的最佳位置。而且，流浪猫统治的地盘可不欢迎新丁。新来的猫肯定会被其它流浪猫赶跑的。”
For those who are concerned about having feral cats nearby, Mr. Phillips said that once cats are neutered, annoying behavior like marking territory and night yowling comes to an end. And cats, he added, which feed on mice and rats, might actually benefit a neighborhood. He and Ms. Farrell also stressed that it is possible to build humane shelters inexpensively.
对于那些担心与流浪猫为邻的人，菲利普说，一旦猫咪被绝育后，那些恼人的行为，比如划地盘或半夜嚎叫就会完全停止。而且，他补充道，依靠捕鼠为食的猫咪事实上还可能会造福社区呢。他与法瑞尔也都强调，不用花费太多就能为猫咪建造人道收容所，这是完全可能的。
That certainly seemed to be the case with the shelters at the show. Adam and Sofia Zimmerman, of Zimmerman Workshop Architecture + Design, in Brooklyn, made theirs out of a moss-enclosed cooler with a hole cut in the side. They estimated the cost, which included two layers of moss secured with chicken wire, at about $80.
本次展览上的这些猫窝当然就是实证。齐默曼(Zimmerman)夫妇——亚当(Adam)和索菲亚(Sofia)来自布鲁克林的齐默曼建筑设计工作室(Zimmerman Workshop Architecture + Design)，他们用覆盖着苔藓的保温箱做成猫窝，并在一侧开了一个洞。他们估计，这样一个用铁丝网包裹着双层苔藓的猫窝，造价大约是80美元。
Sara Silvestri, an architect and designer at H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture, in Manhattan, made a shelter out of a plastic box set in a cube of PVC pipes, with an entry hole covered in a rubbery circle of window insulation. It cost about $30 to build.
莎拉·西尔维斯特里(Sara Silvestri)是曼哈顿H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture建筑设计公司的一位建筑设计师。她将一只塑料盒安在用PVC管搭起的立方体空间里，做成一个猫窝；猫窝的入口处还用一圈有弹性的窗户隔音材料包裹好。它的造价大概是30美元。
Scott Francisco, the founder of Pilot Projects in Lower Manhattan, worked with Anne Chen to design a thatched cat tepee out of branches and brush, which he called the DIY NYC Cat Fort. (Plans are available at pilot-projects.org.) But how does a tepee address the needs of the client?
斯科特·弗朗西斯科(Scott Francisco)是位于曼哈顿下城(Lower Manhattan)的Pilot Projects设计公司的创始人。他与安妮·陈(Anne Chen)合作设计了一款用树枝和灌木做成的帐篷型猫窝。他将其命名为“DIY 纽约猫咪要塞”(DIY NYC Cat Fort)（其设计图可在pilot-projects.org网站上获得）。但是，区区一顶帐篷怎能满足“客户”的需求呢？
The aesthetic is “matched with the cat to feel wild,” Mr. Francisco explained. “I was very influenced by the book ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ as a kid.”
弗朗西斯科解释道，其设计理念是“与流浪猫对野外的感受相符”。他说：“当我还是孩子的时候，深受《野兽出没的地方》(Where the Wild Things Are)这本书的影响。”