In Quarters: Highland Park, IL, Fire Department
This facility received the Career 2 Notable award in the 2024 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
The 13,500-sq.-ft. Highland Park Fire Department facility has one level below grade and two levels above. The apparatus bay allows safe and efficient maneuvering around vehicles and is served by accessory rooms, such as maintenance space, turnout gear, extractors and gear dryers.
The ground floor’s large muster room provides direct view and access to the apparatus bay and the main entrance. The balance of the ground floor contains the required stairwells/elevator for second-floor and basement egress. A tornado shelter is provided to house occupants for as long as two hours in 250-mph winds.
The second floor contains all living areas for as many as six firefighters. It includes a dayroom, a kitchen, a dining room, bunkrooms, a locker area and toilet/shower facilities. The bunkroom and locker/toilet areas are gender-neutral; the two toilet/showers are contained in single-user private rooms. A modest outdoor patio/deck is available off the dining room to the east.
The lower level has an exercise room, to comfortably and safely fit the department’s equipment, as well as valuable storage space.
The building is fully accessible per the State of Illinois Accessibility Code and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 2010. The facility also complies with the city of Highland Park’s newly adopted 2018 version of the International Building Code, Fire Code, Mechanical Code and Fuel Gas Code and the Illinois Energy Conservation Code.
The construction of the building’s exterior comprises a combination of brick, stone and cement plaster to satisfy the goal of reflecting the 1930s Tudor Style of the design of the original fire station. The overhead garage doors allow passage of modern-size firefighting equipment. The building is topped with steep residential roof lines to mimic the Tudor tradition.
Architect: Williams Architects