Country Kennels

Visitors experience the kennels from a single directional route around the building lit by clerestorey windows in the roof above. This route is compartmentalised into zones of varying heights and widths with views into internal courtyards and to the surrounding landscape beyond.

A separate central spine route with ancillary grooming rooms, laundry and food prep rooms enables staff to take dogs from one end of the building to the other without disturbing the other dogs.

The curved roof profiles of the building have several practical functions. The low eaves reduce noise externally and the roof rises towards the centre to conceal services ducting.

A positive air pressure is provided into the visitor’s corridor and out through the individual kennel to reduce smells. The clerestorey windows formed by the higher curved roof sections allow natural lighting deep within the building’s footprint.

Each kennel has a floor set to falls to a flushing sluice, a sleeping alcove with imbedded water heating, and hygienic finishes.

The building is clad in a combination of English oak boarding, frameless glazing, cast stone and mineralite render. Brickwork with lime mortar is used to avoid visible expansion joints, and the whole is topped off with a curved roof of lead grey sarnafil.