The center, which on Oct. 1 started accepting animals picked up in San Jose, Los Gatos, Saratoga and Cupertino, comes complete with skylights, visitation rooms and open space.

"Most people think of an animal shelter as a dark, depressing place that's sad," said Julie St. Gregory, San Jose Animal Care and Services spokeswoman.

According to St. Gregory, the public feedback at the Sept. 25 open house—attended by more than 2,000 people—was the new shelter was more than a holding place for animals.

At 50,000 square feet, the $18 million project includes courtyards, cat socialization rooms, classrooms, a pet-supply store, kitchens and a medical clinic.

"People don't necessarily have to come here just to adopt," said shelter operations supervisor Kerrie Watkins earlier this year. Watkins said she envisioned senior citizens arriving at the shelter just to be able to spend time with the animals.

"I don't want to be a petting zoo, but I had a family come [to my previous shelter] for four months, just to educate themselves on pet ownership," Watkins added. "There are a lot of facets that make it a community project. And that's what we've got to provide."

These provisions include music that will be piped into the holding rooms constantly, featuring harpist Sue Raimond. St. Gregory said the music will be used to calm the strays, and Raimond's music has the reputation of being especially therapeutic for animals.

Each dog kennel comes with a hammock-type bed—so the canines will not have to sleep on the floor—and the kennels are individually ventilated to prevent airborne diseases, said Jon Cicirelli, deputy director of animal care and services.

Every type of room is cleverly named, with monikers such as Hobo Junction (for stray dogs); Chow Chow Hall (to store animal food); Wildcats Cross (holding pens for feral felines); Paws of Justice (which houses the animal-control officers); and The Barnyard (for unusual surrendered animals like chickens and roosters).

And, of course, there is Spirits Rest, the euthanasia room. Unadoptable pets—ill, severely injured, or dangerous to the public—must be euthanized. "And we do have to euthanize animals here when people bring in more animals than we can foster out," St. Gregory said.

According to Cicirelli, the new San Jose facility is the largest single shelter in California.

And there's more to come: a 3,000-square-foot Phase 2, which finishes construction next spring, will add a spay/neuter clinic that will be made available to rescue groups, an expanded surgery space and more cat-holding spaces. Funding for the additional space came from Cupertino, Los Gatos and Saratoga, which partnered with San Jose in July for animal care and control.

All strays collected from those four cities on or after Oct. 1 will be at the new building; however, animals collected before that period will remain at the Humane Society Silicon Valley, where most of the South Bay has housed its strays.

According to Watkins, San Jose will receive on average 30 to 40 animals a week, which means the shelter will fill up fast.

For more information on San Jose Animal Care and Services, visit www.sanjoseanimals.com or call 408.578.PAWS. The shelter is located at 2750 Monterey Road, San Jose.