Pima Animal Care Center

Overview

The new 60,000 square-foot Pima Animal Care Center was designed to house the large numbers of animals that the county cares for each year in a state-of-the-art facility that meets or exceeds the standards of care developed by animal sheltering experts. Features of the animal housing areas include, daylighting and access to fresh air and the outdoors, separation of species throughout the facility, and appropriately sized housing for all animals. The shelter also features an improved and expanded veterinary clinic to care for shelter animals.

The new facility was also designed to be a welcoming space for visitors and adopters. Guests to the facility enter from a shaded plaza where intuitive wayfinding helps direct them to the different zones of the building. Natural daylighting and outdoor access are features throughout both the public and staff areas of the shelter.

The building was designed to achieve a variety of sustainability goals with desert-appropriate Xeriscape landscaping, an energy-efficient direct/indirect evaporative cooling system, proper solar orientation, shading and tinting of glass to reduce solar heat gain, and low-water-use fixtures.