Mesa, Arizona

Replacing the existing Maricopa County Animal Care Center, this new 77,000 sf. facility creates a welcoming and retail-like experience for potential adopters while still providing necessary support spaces including a full veterinary clinic with medical isolation housing blocks, field operations space, quarantine/custody housing, a behavior and training center, photo studio, and grooming room. At peak capacity, the facility can house about 80 cats and 350 dogs.

A central entry plaza facilitates intuitive wayfinding for visitors while still providing separate entry doors for adoptions and admissions. From the adoptions lobby, visitors move through a ‘gallery’ of featured pets and out to the main housing blocks for adoptable dogs. Housing is arranged along two one-way loops for clear and easy-to-use circulation, through which visitors can return to the adoptions lobby or interact with animals in one of several surrounding shaded yards.

Throughout the facility, separation of species and pathways that eliminate cross-circulation wherever possible were strong drivers of the layout. Equally important was the thorough understanding of the Center’s operating procedures to inform how the new facility would best allow staff to perform their jobs efficiently and better serve the animals in their care.