Initiated by Luhu A8 Design Centre, with Animals Asia Foundation and Wuhan Small Animal Association, the small public welfare project aims to create an environmentally friendly adoption area with limited charitable donations, which will promote the relationship between intended adopters and their puppies, thereby increasing the success rate of adoption. It is also a method to stimulate the healthy development of adoption base.
The architect defined the theme as “rescuing and returning home”. The design establishes a basic adoption process of “arrival, meeting, choice, signature, taking photos and departure”, in which there are two key points. The first point is the revolving door to the adoption area, through which adopted puppies find a warm home and become “dog winners”. The change of their fates is reflected in the moment of stepping across the revolving door between indoor and outdoor space. Therefore the design of revolving door has an imagery sense and figurative significance to express and highlight the moment.
The second point is the window sill for photographing, where adopters can take photos with their puppies. It doesn’t only reinforce the sense of ritual, but also encourages the following intended adopters: “Look, what a happy family they are, and we have to find the puppy that our love!” The roundness of the revolving door is regarded as a background of the adopter, bringing them with holy light of their own.
Due to the nature of the temporary construction and the limited cost, the architect created a "large cage" outdoors with 40mm×40mm galvanized square steel pipes and enclosed the cage with orange polycarbonate panels. The small column grid unit of 2m×2m for the large cage highlights the slender and lightweight structure, while cross-shaped lights on the top of the cage give prominence to a sense of ritual. When the afternoon sunlight shines on the building, an appealing rainbow is reflected.