The Animal Care Center’s adoption facility in East Harlem fosters a friendly, open environment for the community. It is dedicated solely to finding homes for abandoned cats and dogs. The project is an adaptive reuse of an underutilized 1930s garage. The renovation of this one-story structure is not only a sustainable gesture but also preserves the historic scale of this rapidly gentrifying residential neighborhood. The facility will also enhance safety through its active street presence, client base, and hours of operation.

The design maintains the existing openings (garage door, entry door, and window) and three internal skylights. Structural reinforcing for the brick party walls and shouldering for the wood joist roof were part of an overall stabilization of the shell. A small underground utility room is hardened for resiliency. The project received LEED Silver certification, as it minimizes energy use while providing the required high levels of sewage treatment, lighting, and resiliency for high-pressure cleaning.

The facade celebrates pedestrian life, creating an engagingly joyful attraction for nearby residents and potential pet adopters from all areas. The cat colony brings natural light deep into the building’s public spaces. A “rain-screen” comprises a series of fins spaced 4″ apart and 3 1/2″ deep that protect the original brick façade. Twenty-five distinct colors are distributed on seventy-five fins, forming a partial rainbow, from warm yellow tones to cooler greens and blues. When viewed from the south side of the street, the optical effect is one of soft gray. The color activates with people walk towards the facility.

Safety and support for both animals and potential adoptive families are essential factors. Therefore, each dog has a kennel with sanitation, and each cat lives in a multi-level condo. “Meet and greet” rooms for individual meetups have views and natural light. In all areas, there is a graduated frit pattern of diamond shapes on the glass with more opacity at animal heights to address psychological security for the animals.

In the entry lobby, staff and adoptive families sit at a communal table, breaking hierarchical barriers and encouraging social bonding. The main feature of the welcoming space is a lenticular mural of a cat on one side of each fin and a dog on the other. This playful gesture echoes the façade and celebrates the union of abandoned animals with new families. Animal adoptions have more than doubled previous rates, and animals spend almost 50% less time in the facility before finding new homes. These statistics have real meaning, as there has been a significant rise in pet abandonments post-pandemic.