Cat Trio — Weiqiao Lin

Weiqiao Lin
Project

Corridor / Balcony
Tall Timber
Pottery Museum
ZeroWaste Center
Inside Out

Research

Circular Urbanism The Treachery of Matter

The Third Typology

Experience
Portfolio
About
Contact

CAT TRIO MAKE A TREE A CAT’S HOME
In Collaboration with Amber Peiying Han

Status: Concept

Introduction

Urban environments are home to millions of stray animals, resilient and independent, yet quietly vulnerable. Cat Trio is a modular, tree-mounted habitat system that transforms the urban tree canopy into living infrastructure for stray cats.

The concept draws from a simple observation: cats are instinctively drawn to elevated spaces. Height offers safety, territorial awareness, and comfort. Rather than designing ground-level enclosures that compete with the chaos of the street, Cat Trio brings the habitat upward, attaching directly to urban trees through a non-invasive strap system that requires no permanent modification.

The system is not a single fixed object but a kit of components that can be configured to serve different needs, from a simple perch to a weatherproof shelter to a self-contained feeding station. Deployed across a park, a streetscape, or an entire neighborhood, the units collectively create a distributed feline ecosystem woven quietly into the existing urban forest, an acknowledgment that cities belong to more than just their human inhabitants.

Cat Platform

The Cat Platform is the foundation of the Cat Trio system. A circular mesh platform cantilevers from the tree trunk via a bracket secured with a single adjustable strap, installable on trees of any diameter, without tools or permanent hardware.

At its core, it gives a cat somewhere to be. Elevated above the street, it offers the instinctive security of high ground, a place to observe, rest, and exist undisturbed. Multiple platforms installed across adjacent trees at varying heights can form a connected circuit, turning a grove of urban trees into a traversable landscape and playground for cats.

Cat House

The Cat House adds a foldable canopy to the platform base, converting the open perch into a sheltered enclosure. The pleated canopy fans outward and downward from a central cap, wrapping the platform in a protective cone that shields against rain, wind, and direct sun.

The canopy's foldable nature makes it adaptable, collapsible for transport and expandable on-site. For a stray cat, the result is straightforward: a dry, enclosed space to sleep, to wait out a storm, and to feel, for a moment, at home.

Cat Feeder

The Cat Feeder is the fully realized configuration of the system, adding an automated feeding mechanism to the platform and canopy. A compact dispenser at the center of the platform delivers dry food into an accessible trough, so cats are not only sheltered but consistently fed.

In this form, the design moves from passive infrastructure to active care. A network of feeders across a park or urban block creates reliable waypoints where stray cats can return regularly. The canopy protects both the animal and the food supply. Platform, shelter, feeder: somewhere to climb, somewhere to rest, and something to eat. Cat Trio doesn't ask the city to change; it asks only that a tree be allowed to do a little more.