Animal Care and Control's Harlem facility is a large complex that combines medical care, animal safety, control, and euthanizing with pet adoption. The situation in NYC reached crisis mode as the facility couldn't keep up with finding adoptive families for the plethora of abandoned dogs and cats. As a publicly funded/managed project, it was 10 years in the making and is LEED Gold.
Project Vision Design
The Pet Adoption Center is in an adaptive reuse of a 1930s garage. Previously used for storage, the brick structure was one of many small-scale buildings in this area of East Harlem. With gentrification, multi-story new construction now dominates. The decision to retain the building was both a sustainable gesture and a desire to create an intimate atmosphere for adoption. In doing so, zoning restrictions meant that the new work could not change the original apertures. The façade strategically inserts a large glass into the cat colony, an entry door into the original garage door, and a window into the person door. These south-facing windows bring natural light deep into the lobby.
Design and Execution
The use of graphic color is rare in the architectural realm. On a practical basis, the original brick was severely compromised. After repairs and painting, a metal screen was installed to protect the integrity of the historic structure. It creates a playful lenticular effect with changing colors as one walks down the street. Twenty-six colors shift subtly from yellow tones to green to blue over the perpendicular facing 3"-deep steel fins. The spaces between the fins and the proud edge of the fins are grey. The optical phenomenon portrays a more subdued effect when viewed from across the block as the colors flicker softly.
The interior of the Harlem facility is designed with a gracious welcome area for gathering and onboarding. A shared table is less challenging than a typical reception desk, accessible and adaptable. The layout is based on animal safety/best practices and ACC procedure, with cats at the front and dogs in separate kennels in the rear. Glass partitions with a graphic frit pattern ensure visibility to the animals while also reducing aggressive behavior and stress by preventing direct animal-to-animal eye contact. Using animal silhouettes is strategic and subtle, using only white as a theme.
The lobby's main feature is the playful 3D mural. It utilizes a lenticular motif dimensionally based on the façade. However, here, it portrays a graphic of a cat when seen from the right and a dog from the left. This strategy encourages adoptive families to move around, fostering a relaxed sense of community and, yes, a moment to take photos and share with friends.
In the first three months, the adoption success rate rose from placing animals from an average of three weeks to 10 days, resulting in about double the number of adoptions as in the previous facility. There is strong evidence that this rate will continue to rise as visitor response and local word of mouth, social media, and animal community websites have been highly encouraging. Local families enjoy the cat colony at the front window, lingering to watch playfulness. This provides a stronger sense of community and safety in this high-crime neighborhood. What has surprised everyone is the growing optimism around adoption, especially for the dogs that are more difficult to place.
