Animal shelters have come a long way from the days when, for many cats, dogs, and other animals, they were little more than waystations to euthanasia.
Case in point: the 37,000-sf County of Santa Clara Animal Services Center, which opened last month on eight acres in San Martin. Calif., represents the current era’s more humane approach to caring for abandoned or in-need creatures.
Designed by Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture in collaboration with the Florida-based animal care designer Bacon Group, and constructed by XL Construction, the Center allows the county’s animal care team to double, to 8,000, the number of pets it can care for annually. The building features advanced medical clinics, cat “condos” and dog “dorms,” specialized outdoor rehab space, and emergency shelter capacity for community pets.
IN THE WORKS FOR 10 YEARS
The Center is the only shelter in the county that takes in livestock. Its history of care includes adoption and volunteer programs.
The County’s previous animal shelter in San Martin was in an expanded, repurposed farmhouse built 40 years ago. But even the older shelter had a 95% live release rate, ranking it at the top among public shelters in California. With its new Animal Services Center, the County is committed to saving all animals, even when the shelter is full. The Center is “open admission,” meaning all animals are accepted from County service areas, regardless of temperament and condition.
The County and its Building Team have been planning and working on this project for more than a decade. The county’s board of supervisors approved the contract with Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture in February 2017. In June 2018, the board awarded a $31,452,406 CM at Risk contract to XL Construction with 240 calendar days of preconstruction and 580 days of construction. The County subsequently increased the guaranteed maximum price of the project by $3,917,669, and the construction phase was completed in 18 months.
READY FOR ANIMALS OF ALL SIZES
The Center's design was informed by principles for healthier buildings, energy efficiency, and minimizing animal anxiety.
The design of the new Center in San Martin draws from WELL Building principles, LEED green building standards, and Fear Free anti-anxiety concepts for pets. The facility includes a medical expansion for advanced veterinary care clinics with exam rooms, radiology, surgery, and recovery suites. Its amenities include a 2,500-sf barn with 10 stalls and extensive pastures that are among the few facilities in the region outfitted to shelter and rehabilitate large livestock. An indoor/outdoor community meeting space can accommodate up to 300 people for events.
XL’s contributions to this project included the application of advanced safety and disease control methods such as zoned air flow and sophisticated trench drain and chemical washdown systems. XL built with durable specialty materials—such as polished and sealed concrete and epoxy-coated floors, structural glazed tile and block walls, plastic toilet partitions, and Caesarstone countertops—that require little maintenance outside of regular topical cleaning.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) new Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement on Sept 15 with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), resulting in a rapidly advanced construction plan for the facility.
| Aug 11, 2010
Arup, SOM top BD+C's ranking of the country's largest mixed-use design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Mixed-Use Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
IFMA workplace study: Average space per employee up 40 sf since 2007, likely due to corporate layoffs
The International Facility Management Association has released “Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks, Research Report #32,” a study outlining the facility trends affecting workplaces throughout North America. Among the new report’s findings are that the average space per person has risen nearly 40 square feet since 2007, likely due to recent corporate layoffs.
| Aug 11, 2010
'Too cold' and 'too hot' most common complaints among office workers, says IFMA study
The International Facility Management Association has released “Temperature Wars: Savings vs. Comfort,” a new study that takes an in-depth look at the most common thermal complaints made by workers and the variety of ways facility professionals respond to them.For many years, IFMA has surveyed facility professionals to learn the top office complaints among employees.
| Aug 11, 2010
Best AEC Firms of 2011/12
Later this year, we will launch Best AEC Firms 2012. We’re looking for firms that create truly positive workplaces for their AEC professionals and support staff. Keep an eye on this page for entry information. +
| Aug 11, 2010
Clark Group, Mortenson among nation's busiest state/local government contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 40 State/Local Government Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit /giants
| Aug 11, 2010
NASA plans federal government's greenest building
NASA is set to break ground on what the agency expects will become the highest performing building in the federal government. Named Sustainability Base, the new building at Ames Research Center in Sunnyvale, Calif., will be a showplace for sustainable technologies, featuring "NASA Inside" through the incorporation of some of the agency’s most advanced recycling and intelligent controls technologies originally developed to support NASA’s human and robotic space exploration missions.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, CH2M Hill, AECOM top BD+C's ranking of the 75 largest federal government design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Federal Government Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants