Premise

‘A man’s best friend’, ‘a furry companion’. These are the few terms that come to our mind when we think of animals. They have been an integral part of our lives since their existence. They have helped and companioned humans when needed. The human-animal bond is the key to a healthier lifestyle. Researchers have examined how animal interaction can affect depression, anxiety, mental and physical well-being.

The domestication of animals has been practiced for centuries. Archaeological evidence states that humans have lived with domestic wolves 14000 years ago. Over time, these domestic animals became loyal companions to human beings. Today they are known as ‘urban animals’ or ‘pets’.

Over the years, human population has increased drastically. To meet their demands, cities have expanded beyond their limits, consequently destroying the animal habitat. Humans have constantly exploited the resources and continue to do so.

The world is being created for humans, keeping their foremost surroundings in mind, neglecting the major part that encircles them, ‘other beings’.

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Img 2: Abandoned and injured animal on the street.

Issue

Habitation was supposed to be a mutual thing. However, humans stand out in the food chain dominating every other organism on the planet. Human hegemony of food-chain shouldn't give them the right to take advantage of the ones beneath them.

Over the years animal habitat was taken over by urban settlement resulting in “pet overpopulation”. In the United States, six to eight million animals are brought to shelters each year, of which an estimated three to four million are subsequently euthanized because there are more urban animals that there are responsible homes.

The abandoned animals on the streets tend to cause motor accidents, carry diseases, and not to say anything about the suffering that they have endured. Most of these stray animals have been brutally injured, abused, abandoned on streets by their previous owners. The few lucky ones are taken to the shelter where they live in a confined and unkept place until adopted or they are euthanized due to limited space and low funding.

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Img 4: a shelter cat in cage.

Brief of the competition

Is it possible to build a facility where animals can be housed in a shelter and yet run free? Can animals and humans bond in a man-made or natural environment? How can architecture instigate in building a safe and comfortable environment for animals? Can architecture for animals be re-designed for the physical and mental well being of animals?

Challenge: Building a no-kill shelter/health sanctuary for animals where they can interact in a man-made or natural surroundings. The proposed shelter will not only provide the animal with the basic necessities needed for welfare but it will also promote human-animal and animal-animal interaction

A modern day animal foster house that breaks away from the current norms of confinement and gives them a life that they deserve.

Objectives

Positive Containment: The animals have to be contained in a careful way.

Management: With so many animals at one place architecture should assist managing them easy.

Overlap: Finding places of overlap between Humans and Animals in the facility.

Openness: While embracing confinement open ness of the facility should also be focuessed.

The following objectives can be a point of beginning to conceive this design. Participants can assume their own contexts and users before initiating their design process. The aim of the competition is to design a animal welfare centre that works on three principles:

Welfare: Works for the physical and mental wellbeing of animals
Training: animals will be trained to interact with each other, their surroundings and humans
Interaction: interactional areas for animal-human, human-human, animal-animal interaction.

Bucharest, Romania

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Img 5: location of Bucharest, Romania

In Bucharest, the capital city of Romania, the problem of strays has been acknowledged for decades. In 2015, the Bucharest City Hall stated that over 51,200 stray dogs were captured between October 2013 and January 2015, with more than half being euthanized[1]. The issue has not only been a heated subject of debate in Bucharest, but also on a nationwide scale.

Site Plan

animal shelter

Img 6: site location

The site for the animal shelter is proposed in the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania. The area is located in the proximity of residential area as well as farmlands; providing easy accessibility for visitors and volunteers. Plot hasn’t been divided yet and therefore participants can add more road access points if the design requires but the current laid out road plan cannot be changed.

Site area : 29,284 sqm
Maximum ground cover: 20%
Height restriction: 8m Max
FAR: 18,000 sqm
Site coordinates: 44°27'52.2"N 26°09'45.1"E

Judging Criteria

The entries will be judged by an international jury of the competition on the following criterions:

animal shelter

About Terra

Terra serves as a unit block for UNI in the field of nature centric design. It intends to break the fusion of traditional design barriers and methodologies by making it a platform for experimentation. It embarks on exchange of ideas between architecture and nature. It is a research initiative dedicated to provide opportunities for designers from all domains to explore ideas that go beyond the boundaries of architectural discipline and enrich our built environment; thereby opening up possibilities for promotion of architectural thought at a global level.

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Strays 2020

Overview