Welcome to the 2017 Station Design Awards!
Firehouse is pleased to present the fourth annual showcase of fire and emergency services facilities. Forty-three fire stations were submitted by 28 architecture firms with experience in designing public safety facilities. The full PDF of winners can be downloaded here.
The goal of the Station Design Awards is to identify trends and educate Firehouse readers using examples of new public safety facilities from across North America designed and constructed to meet the needs and responsibilities of an agency, as well as the safety of its personnel and the community that it serves. We believe that each facility featured in this issue is already a “winner” for its department, personnel and community, by offering improvements with a new or a renovated station.
Seven judges were invited to this year’s Station Design Awards, including three chiefs, two architects, one risk manager and an architect/fire engineer. Each judge has experience with new or renovated fire stations and code applications. No judge had an entry in this year’s program. Each portfolio submitted was checked for anonymity before being shared with the judges.
We asked the judges to review each of the entries and select their top three choices in each category. It never ceases to amaze me that among all the entries in each category, the judges will have similar final selections; in fact, one of the fire stations was the first choice in its category by six judges.
This year the Career category was divided into two levels: Career 1 for stations over 15,000 square feet and Career 2 for stations under 15,000 square feet. Last year’s judges made this request to better compare the Career category entries. In the end, we determined that the Career 2 entries were very competitive and clearly the toughest category for the judges.
There were three areas on which the judges spent significant time:
- Zone designs: Conference presentations and articles on limiting firefighters’ exposure to carcinogens is beginning to appear in new station designs. The concept was first introduced four or five years ago when many of these entries were in design or construction and unable to incorporate these recommendations. In the stations that did have “zone” designs (separation of “hot” or contaminated areas from “cold” or living areas), the appearance of airlock doors was obvious.
- Security: Security was a critical element in prohibiting public access and ensuring security of the crew’s living areas and administrative offices. Key codes, magnetic cards and cameras are integral security measures. Some metro areas are even installing bulletproof glass in stations.
- Sleeping areas: Sleeping areas continue to be in a state of flux. Single sleeping rooms with a desk and door have drawn resistance in some areas for too much “alone time.” Individual sleeping rooms with no door were seen in several entries. We’ve heard pros and cons from chiefs about individual sleeping rooms, and the judges discussed it at length, agreeing too much isolation isn’t good for the crews.
After much discussion on the Shared Facilities category, the judges decided to present the Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex in Fort Worth, TX, with a special Outstanding Achievement Award. The 73-acre, 500,000-sq.-ft. complex is shared by the Fort Worth fire and police headquarters and located on the site of two pre-World War II government warehouses. The complex was repurposed into modern offices, auditoriums, classrooms and training scenarios. At the rear of the property is a new Forth Worth Fire Department fire station.
The 2017 Station Design Award entries represent excellent examples of stations from across North America, and can serve as a great resource of information for you in planning your next station. Prices vary greatly, as do budgets, construction costs and response volume.
As mentioned, every entry in the 2017 Station Design Awards program is a winner for its fire department, the personnel and community it serves.
Please save the date for the 2018 Station Design Conference, May 9–11, 2018, in Fort Worth, TX.
— Janet Wilmoth, Special Projects Director
