Paw Republic Part 1 Project 2019 Yanning Xiang University of Nottingham Ningbo | China The project celebrates the coexistence of animal and human being, and rethinks the social role and responsibility of architects and architecture. It is arguably the first project in China to deal with two marginalised subjects – i.e. stray dogs and ageing community – which are neglected by the rapid urbanisation in the past 30 years. The project proposes a new type of mutual-support program and spaces between dog and human-being to challenge existing typologies of dog shelter and community centre for the elderly in China. The project also envisions a place where dogs and ageing group could spend time together and mutually heal each other, meanwhile retrieving the lost social values for the community. The hybridised program of combining animal-loving and community center is to challenge the current practices of disposing stray dogs in China- i.e. slaughter houses or dog-meat restaurants - to ensure the sustainability of the dog shelter and promote animal-loving culture. The layout inverts the typical typology of current dog shelter and hence designs the spaces for the dog surrounding the spaces for human activities. At the same time, the program creates shared spaces to increase interactive moments at various interfaces between dog and human. Yanning Xiang Tutor(s) Yat-Ming Loo Keming Wang Eugenio Mangi Jing Xie Hui Zhang