London Design Gold

2023

Pet Resource Center

Entrant Company

RA-DA

Category

Architectural Design - Cultural

Client's Name

Best Friends Animal Society

Country / Region

United States

As the first building of its kind, the Pet Resource Center is a revolution in the animal care industry. With kennels and cages intentionally omitted, it’s function is similar in many ways to an animal shelter, but its fundamental philosophy is the polar opposite.

LONG TERM GOAL

Best Friends Animal Society has a goal of No-Kill by 2025. To achieve this, they are working with shelters, rescues, and communities and using a deep knowledge and analysis of data to rehome animals and stop the killing of unwanted pets.

After 150 years of shelters that are modelled on short term stays, we are changing that paradigm. Animals visibly decay in health and behavior when kept in cages and kennels. Best Friends have developed a better and smarter way.

During Covid many shelters were shut down and as a result, a large network of foster parents emerged. Best Friends capitalized on this and halfway through design, we decided that the kennels had to go: The goal was to build a shelter of the future:

People need a place where they can connect with animals in a setting that is un-institutional. This was going to be different, and the building would be a model for Cities and Counties Country-wide, and even world-wide.

A CUSTOMIZED PROGRAM

This meant a different approach to the design of the building. We had to rethink the purpose, the flow and the program. This Center needed to be community-focused, inclusive, and welcoming. We needed to pull the public into the world of Best Friends and get them involved, either to donate, volunteer, adopt or foster. It needed to support its affiliated rescues, foster parents, and the animals. It needed to provide adequate medical care and spay and neuter services. It needed to educate on all aspects of animal care including dog behavior or kitten feeding. It would even provide a community pantry for parents that were in need. The spaces are designed around these functions and creatively support these aspirations.





More Gold Winners
Communication
2023
London Design Awards - Typography on building – Tipografia do Conto
Tipografia do Conto Hotel and Art Residence

Entrant Company

R2 – Ramalho & Rebelo Design Lda

Category

Communication Design - Typography / Signage

Interior
2023
London Design Awards - Scandinavian Fusion: Apartment in Chelsea, NYC

Entrant Company

Arsight

Category

Interior Design - Residential 

UX Design
2023
London Design Awards - Light Up-Illuminate Lives, Illuminate Your Own

Entrant Company

Di Chai, Yuanyuan Song, Bingru Xue, Sarita Sun, Yueming Lai, and Kaihuan Huang

Category

User Experience Design (UX) - Services & Utilities

Service
2023
London Design Awards - Designing a Self-guided Service for Rixing Type Foundry
Rixing Type Foundry

Entrant Company

Play Design Lab

Category

Service Design - Cultural