New Greenville Humane Society Facility Wins Prestigious Architecture Award
December 11, 2011
Local chapter of American Institute of Architects honors designer for creating icon within the community
GREENVILLE,SC – December 8, 2011 – The Greenville Humane Society’s new,state-of-the-art adoption center and clinic has been honored with a 2011AIA Greenville Design Merit Award from the local chapter of theAmerican Institute of Architects.
The biannual design awards program recognizes work that exhibits exceptional design quality and is worthy of merit.Projects are not judged in competition with each other, but rather bymeasuring the architect’s performance against each project’s potential.
Greenville-basedMcMillan Pazdan Smith designed the 10,000-square-foot facility, whichopened in June, in collaboration with Erwin Penland’s experientialbranding team. In honoring the Humane Society’s facility, onecompetition judge noted the project “simply has soul,” while anotherjudge in perhaps the highest compliment commented that the GreenvilleHumane Society project “represents where humane societies should go.”
Rebrandingitself as a 100 percent no-kill facility, the Greenville HumaneSociety’s more centrally located facility on Airport Road has enabledthe community to easily access its expanded service offerings, includingan enhanced adoption center featuring a personalized pet matchingsystem that has helped spark a spike in the facility’s animal adoptionrate; an expanded low-cost spay and neuter clinic that improves theexperience of animals both pre- and post-surgery; and a foster programthat safeguards animals not yet ready for adoption.
“As anon-profit with limited financial resources and an extremely aggressiveconstruction schedule we were thrilled with what McMillan Pazdan SmithArchitecture and Erwin Penland created,” said Greenville Humane SocietyExecutive Director Kim Pitman. “Greenville now boasts a best-in-classHumane Society where we’ve reinvented the brand, the experience and theprocess of animal care and adoption.”
With initial constructionpaid from existing funds, the $1.75 million facility includes anadoption center, 5,800-square-foot medical clinic and three-acre dogwalking area. A second phase for the new campus will include two outdoordog parks, a pet-oriented education pavilion—an Upstate first—and anoutdoor “dog bar” where pets and people can enjoy a refreshing beverage.
A$2.25 million capital campaign is already underway to provide a solidfinancial foundation for the Humane Society, which expects to raise$800,000 by the end of 2011. For more information about the GreenvilleHumane Society, the new facility or how you can help build the nextphase of its new home, visit www.greenvillehumane.com.
About the Greenville Humane Society
TheGreenville Humane Society, open since 1937, is a private, non-profitorganization whose mission is to support, enrich and improve thecommunity by serving as an advocate for the safety and well-being of allanimals. By offering affordable pet healthcare services – includingspaying and neutering – and educating the public on issues concerningresponsible pet ownership, animal welfare legislation and eliminatinganimal cruelty, Greenville Humane Society seeks to maintain a beneficialinfluence on our community while developing a positive awareness for apet-caring society. Managing the largest no-kill shelter in the area,Greenville Humane Society also operates the only low-cost spay/neuterclinic in Greenville. For more information, visit www.greenvillehumane.com.
