exterior of Pet Resource Center at night

January 31, 2024

This Animal Shelter Raises the Bar for Design

2023 Best of Year Winner for Social Impact

Most animal shelters are filled with cages and kennels. But cats and dogs can tend to decline when contained in such conditions. RA-DA decided there had to be a better way. The result, one of several projects in the firm’s animal care–facility portfolio and its second for the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, which is working toward no-kill by 2025, is what founder/principal Rania Alomar is calling the “shelter of the future.” Encompassing 20,000 square feet and evoking the old barns scattered on fields in this predominantly rural area, the Pet Resource Center in Bentonville, Arkansas is divided into a medical wing and a community-focused wing. The latter has creatively conceived areas for animals to roam and for fun pet-fostering events so that they are rehomed quickly. Doggie yoga classes or knitting with kittens, anyone?

See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees

Explore must-see projects and innovative products that took home high honors.

2025 WINNERS

an open area for animals to play in the Pet Resource Center

an orange dining area in the Pet Resource Center

PROJECT TEAM

RA-DA: rania alomar.

Projects
For a Dry Pot Eatery in Brooklyn, Bold Branding Stands Out
MáLà Project, a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, known for its “dry pot” dish, features bold branding by Jingqi Fan with a nostalgic color scheme.
Projects
Feel At Peace In This Warm Elder-Care Facility In Nantong, China
See how this elder-care facility by Vermilion Zhou Design Group takes inspiration from Chinese poet Toa Yuanming with its honeyed palette and inviting seating areas.
Projects
Bible Verses Inform The Design Of Thailand’s Church Of Joy
Department of Architecture Co.’s spiritual design for the Church of Joy in Bangkok, Thailand, blends the interplay of light and geometry with divine faith.