East Mountain Regional Animal Shelter, Edgewood, New Mexico

Connolly is working with Kells + Craig Architects of Albuquerque on the programming, planning and design phases for a new animal shelter to serve Torrance County and portions of Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties in New Mexico. Pooling the resources of these stakeholders maximizes the unit cost benefit for a new shelter that will increase adoption and give greater visibility to the communities' animal services.

Among the facility's deliberate design strategies is to accommodate a 20/80 percent ratio of display vs. holding animals with a view to rotating adoptable animals out of the facility as quickly as possible. Its highly prominent location across from a new civic center in Edgewood is part of a new master plan for the community that will include other civic services, including a new fire station next door. The new shelter will be designed in compliance with state-mandated LEED Silver certification.