The Annenberg PetSpace is part animal shelter, part playground and part science center. The 30,000-sq-ft facility shelters up to 40 cats, 40 dogs and 100 rabbits, providing meeting areas and veterinary and training spaces. Visitors entering PetSpace’s vaulted lobby encounter a 14-ft animatronic corgi that pants and wags his tail in greeting, while a 16-ft animatronic cat paws at a human hamster wheel. The building was certified LEED Platinum, a rarity for animal shelters since they must meet more stringent office building criteria. The shelter’s sustainable components include paints with lower amounts of volatile organic compounds and teak wood reclaimed from Indonesia. The team implemented an air monitoring program with additional ventilation to address the potential issue of hazardous, subsurface gases contaminating the air within the building while crews were trenching for underground utilities. To help protect the shelter’s at-risk animals from cross-contamination and disease, the team incorporated durable and easily-washed materials as well as an air-exchange system.

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