Bentonville, Arkansas, USA

Unlike traditional shelters, the Pet Resource Center, designed by RA-DA and Harrison French & Associates, represents a transformative approach in animal care architecture where is intentionally omitted the use of kennels and cages, focusing instead on community engagement and animal well-being.

Through the use of local foster homes rather than on-site kennels, this concept moves animals from overcrowded places to areas with more adoption possibilities.

For its design and conception, the project has recently been awarded a 2024 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

To achieve this they had to devise an alternate approach disrupting a 150 year-old industry.

The architectural design draws inspiration from local barn vernacular, featuring a distinctive roofscape that harmonizes with the surrounding park landscape.

The facility emphasizes openness and flexibility, with interconnected interior and exterior spaces that encourage public exploration and engagement.

Driven by data, they are building an infrastructure to transport animals from overpopulated parts of the country to underserved parts, and are housing shelter pets with local foster families rather than keeping them on site in kennels and cages that are detrimental to health and behavior.

Instead of hiding on the edge of town, this building is centrally located and easily visible and accessible to all.

It houses a medical center for animals passing through and for local rescues, a community center filled with engagement activities for the locals and a support center for all the foster parents and animals.

Events such as Knitting with Kittens, Foster Fridays and Adoption Saturdays keep them connected to the community and make this a model for future centers worldwide.

A deep dive into the local barn vernacular allowed us to parse and categorize that language into architectural strategies for form.

These are the strategies the architects used to manipulate our roofscape to achieve an efficient and intentional peaking, merging, and kicking out of the slopes to traverse the site and shelter the program.

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, they decided that the kennels had to go: The goal was to build a shelter of the future.

This meant a different approach to the design of the building.

The architects had to rethink the purpose, the flow and the program.

This Center needed to be community-focused, inclusive, and welcoming.

They 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.

Alongside this, there needed to be a ‘transport’ component that could support the relocation of pets across the country. The spaces are designed around these functions and creatively support these aspirations.

The building form makes a logical split between the main Community spaces to the north and the more technical Medical and Support spaces to the south.

The linking elements are the front courtyard and Porch spaces and the Volunteer Bridge. With parking to the south, and pulled away from the building, visitors approach on foot from the front porch, passing a large dog-themed mural by a local artist.

The Medical wing is pulled back so that a clear path to the front door is revealed.

This side entry to the main lobby space is intentionally incidental and as such inclusive to all.

Visitors can “slip in” easily without much pomp.

The axis of the main community lobby space provides stunning views of the park to the east and west capturing the sunrise in the winter and the sunset in the summer through its high peaked roofs and providing parkgoers respite.

Interior and Exterior spaces are connected wherever possible with open views and large operable glass doors.

The two levels of the Community Wing also visually connected. The openness of the space invites and encourages exploration with public access given throughout the facility.

Even the administrative space is open to view from the main lobby although most staff is working out in the main space making them easily approachable.

Stadium seating and a slide (for fun) takes guests downstairs to the dog enrichment room and second community room where Best Friends holds Adoption events, Dog Yoga classes amongst other enrichment events.

Project: Pet Resource Center
Architects: RA-DA
Lead Architect: Rania Alomar
Design Team: Stephanie Odenheimer, Luisana Hernandez, and Mike Green
Landscape Architects: Harrison French & Associates
General Contractor: Baldwin & Shell
Client: Best Friends Animal Society
Photographers: Ralf Strathmann