27 All you can ever hope for as an architecture studio is to get the opportunity to work on meaningful projects you believe make a difference in the world. So when they come your way, you give everything you have to make your clients’ life works and dreams come to reality in a way that reflects the amazing people they are. When Best Friends approached us with the idea of converting a 1970s Motel in the town of Kanab just a few miles outside their Sanctuary into the epicenter of their guest experience, we all knew we were about to embark on a journey that was something special – something meaningful. Best Friends is an organization that set out 35 years ago with a goal of ending the killing of 17 million dogs and cats dying annually in our nation’s shelters. Their story is mythical to animal lovers because people who know them recognize they started with nothing, just grit and a determination to change the world. The group scraped together everything they had to purchase 3,700 acres in Southern Utah to create a no-kill animal sanctuary, and begin the movement to stop the killing of companion animals. Fast forward to today, and they have started a global movement well on the way to reaching their goal. Today, that number is down nationally to 347,000 per year, and they believe they can have that to zero by 2025. So when they tasked us with creating the world’s most pet-friendly hotel, we knew they were serious, and a lot was riding on us delivering results! Today the Roadhouse and Mercantile is open, our client loves it (they call us often to tell us so, which is humbling), and two and four-legged guests seem to love it as well because positive reviews flood the hotel sites, and that too is humbling! b
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