Ghetto2Garden is a Sustainable Animal Rehabilitation Center Made from Recycled Materials

Architecture group<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ColectivoRevark" target="_blank"> Colectivo Revark</a> and designer Tomás De Santis have banded together to create a safe haven for Santo Domingo’s <a href="http://inhabitat.com/hale-county-animal-shelter-by-new-rural-studio-2/" target="_blank">abused animals</a>, made almost entirely from recycled materials. Called <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/ghetto2garden" target="_blank">Ghetto2Garden</a>, the group will collect disused shipping pallets, used tires, plywood and plastic tanks and use them to build a multi-level <a href="http://inhabitat.com/help-all-4-paws-animal-shelter-green-its-new-space/" target="_blank">sustainable home for animals</a>. The proposed rehabilitation center will be able to house 50 abused animals, and it will be run with solar and wind power.

Based in the Dominican Republic, Colectivo Revark brings together designers and architects for experimental architecture projects that incite social change.

The Ghetto2Garden (Del Barrio al Jardin) project appeals to these designers compassion and architectural sensibilities, giving a challenge to create a structure of nurture on little budget and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/architects-for-animals-design-shelters-for-stray-cats-out-of-recycled-materials/" target="_blank">from recycled materials</a>.

The target for the project is not <a href="http://inhabitat.com/harmony-house-cat-shelter-is-chicagos-first-net-zero-commercial-building/" target="_blank">stray cats and dogs</a>, but to help fifty animals that have suffered abuse and negligence from their human owners. Finding the current animal rehabilitation center to be inappropriate (location in an area of high crime, unsuitable for animals’ needs, high costs for renting the space), the group designed the self-sustainable shelter.

Empty plastic cube tanks are upcycled into cozy rooms for each of the animals, which are arranged on multi-level floors, accessible by ramps.

The frame structure is <a href="http://inhabitat.com/roadhouse-is-a-student-made-music-venue-made-from-hundreds-of-shipping-pallets/" target="_blank">made from disused shipping pallets</a> and plywood. Colectivo Revark also plans to keep the shelter as green as possible, installing a rain harvesting system, a small wind turbine on the roof, a solar generator, and a biodigester for organic waste recycling.

The owner and caretaker will even have their own <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/brooklyn-couple-moves-into-stacked-shipping-container-home-in-williamsburg/" target="_blank">shipping container homes</a> on the site, with green roofs, a compost toilet and organic garden. The idyllic and compassionate center would not only help mistreated animals, but be an inspiration for sustainable architecture in the Dominican Republic.