Big Dog Ranch Rescue is not just for big dogs! This 15-acre facility located in Loxahatchee Groves, Florida provides a broad spectrum of services for all sizes of dogs, both young and old. The project was composed of a very large campus of 20 buildings that includes a main visitor center, a veterinary medical building, a quarantine/intake building, adoptable dog housing facilities and a play pavilion, a dog-training area, a senior dog sanctuary, boarding facilities (including "Weimar World" and "Puppy Land" pod buildings), an owner surrender/intake building, a pet mausoleum, an events center pavilion, and a maintenance building. In total, the campus houses approximately 175 adoptable dogs and 40 dogs within boarding programs at any given time.

Placer County needed a new regional Animal Shelter to be centrally located in Roseville, CA. The new facility will provide animal controls and animal sheltering services for south Placer County, plus three other local communities together with the close involvement of the Placer SPCA.  RFA’s design organized the entire shelter around an Interactive Corridor that enables visitors to see, experience and have access to adoptable dog & cat housing, get acquainted rooms, pet retail, outdoor play & exercise yards, meeting rooms and a large multipurpose room including humane education, training and obedience.  The shelter also contains administrative offices as well as a shelter veterinary medical component.

Nestled in an enclave within an arroyo in Mission Viejo, this 3.2-acre animal shelter was designed as a pro-life adoption center. The 2,800 SF facility features covered, outdoor dog run pavilions, a cattery and administrative and service support buildings. Created in a village-like atmosphere, the shelter's aesthetic features include peaked and pitched, metal roof elements, skylights, architectural metalwork and the use of warm and inviting earth-tone colors to enhance the animal adoption experience.

SwissRidge Kennels -- located in Schomberg, Ontario, Canada -- is world-renowned for breeding the finest Goldendoodles and Bernedoodles with the best temperaments. The owner decided the time had come to create a facility that truly reflects and supports the quality of the incredible dogs that are bred. Located on nearly a 20-acre site that also contains the existing facility and owner’s residence, the new facility would contain eight breeding wards. Within the 13,900 SF structure there would also be deluxe boarding suites, two training-and-obedience / doggy day care gyms, a training dog ward, and a doggy play pool. The entire facility was designed to provide not only a healthy environment for the dogs but also a fun place to visit.

The Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, MA received a donation from a national pet food company to renovate its’ three Cat Play Rooms. RFA was retained as the Architect to design these unusual and unique playrooms. The design consists of an assortment of bridges, terraces, spiral stairs, straight stairs, ramps, balconies and scratching posts in order to create a fun-filled experience for the feline members of the shelter community. In addition there are colorful wall boxes and floor boxes for the cats to rest in and/or find solitude in. The cats also have private litter box houses, designed to resemble miniature New England homes with faux slate roofs. All in all, people say it makes them want to be a cat.

After having spent over a year searching for a location for their new pet resort, the owners of Luxe Pet Resort finally found the ideal building. The existing structure not only included the space needed at 8,240 SF but also had tremendous visibility in a very high traffic area. The project was built out in two phases. The first phase included standard, luxury, and deluxe and dog boarding suites, cat condos -- each with separate dining and litter areas -- and a cat play room. Phase One also incorporated retail, grooming, and two doggie daycare play areas. The second phase, a 2,950 SF addition, added more standard and deluxe dog suites as well as a canine play pool. Playfully-illuminated dog and cat sculptures animate front façade, bringing it to life.

Mars Petcare, an ever-growing global segment of Mars, Incorporated, is the world's leading authority on pet care and pet nutrition. With <strong>rfa</strong> as a consulting architectural firm for animal care design services, Mars aimed to build its new U.S.-based corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee. A primary focus was the Pet Health and Nutrition Center (PHNC), one of many buildings that comprise an entire corporate research and development campus. The PHNC includes housing for both dogs and cats as well as research facilities to develop nutritional pet foods that are of the best possible quality. Dedicated professionals care for the dogs and cats that live within the facility at the highest standards, contributing to world-class research in pet nutrition and pet health. The dogs are housed in circular cottages linked together as a communal village fanning out from the central building. Each dog has access to multiple outdoor exercise runs and yards, encouraging ample socialization. Cats are housed on the upper level of the PHNC building, with communal cat playrooms that incorporate abundant natural light and outdoor terraces. At Mars, both dogs and cats are treated as part of a very large family, an idea that was central to the philosophical approach to creating such homes for them. The new facility serves as a flagship for all other Mars headquarters located around the world.