In Quarters: Mineta San Jose, CA, International Airport ARFF Facility and Fire Station No. 20

This facility received a Career 1 Notable Award in the 2022 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here. 

The Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) facility and Fire Station 20 provide the city of San Jose and the Mineta San Jose International Airport with a modern facility to meet the demands of a rapidly expanding international airport. Utilizing a collaborative design/ build project delivery method, the entire project team participated in structured partnering sessions throughout the project.

The new, dynamic location for the ARFF replacement facility accommodates future expansion of the airport terminals, which improves response not only for the airport but also for the surrounding community.

Comprising four ARFF bays for airside service and one bay for landside service, the dual functions of the facility created security challenges. The design team had to balance requirements to maintain the boundary of the airport operations area while delivering the response times that are essential for landside and airside operations. Alignment of the new site entrance with the existing intersection was instrumental in helping to address these constraints.

The facility features administrative offices and firefighter living and sleeping quarters for landside and airside crews. There are specialized spaces for equipment, aviation rescue and firefighting response. Near to the operations storage rooms for turnouts, clean-up and medical are workspaces for SCBA, nitrogen and foam storage.

Exercise rooms and an outdoor patio are situated so that the prevailing winds across the airfield are blocked by the building, which offers a comfortable outdoor space for the firefighters.

To meet the city’s and the airport’s progressive sustainability goals of zero net carbon, the equipment is all-electric, and municipally supplied recycled water is used for landscape irrigation. The city required this project to achieve LEED Silver Certification.

Because of the project’s location between a busy street and airport taxiways, there was concern regarding indoor air quality. The project improved indoor air quality using high-performance building envelope and sealing and superior mechanical filtration of the outside air.    

Architect/Firm Name: TEN OVER STUDIO