In Quarters: Holland, MI, Fire Station No. 1

This facility received the Combination Gold award in the 2025 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here. 

Holland Fire Station No. 1 is a purpose-built facility that’s designed to enhance firefighter health, safety and operational efficiency while supporting the department’s evolving needs and long-term growth. Located in an industrial area, the station replaces a small, two-bay structure that had limited accommodations.

The department’s top priorities included accommodating future growth, improving gender equity, supporting firefighter health and wellness, integrating training facilities and enhancing operational readiness. The station houses significantly more apparatus than its predecessor; provides individual, private bedrooms; and includes a training tower and a modern training room, which includes a kitchenette, that doubles as a community space.

Firefighters are assigned their own private bedroom, to support personalization, privacy, quality sleep environments and mental health. These rooms are equipped with a large locker; additional lockers that are in the locker room support paid part-time staff.

The station’s Hot, Warm and Cold Zones support firefighter safety and hygiene. High hazard areas, such as the apparatus bay, are separated from living spaces via airlocks. Two dedicated shower rooms, with adjacent change-of-clothes lockers, streamline the post-incident decontamination process. Six of the seven Station Design Awards judges rated the facility’s composition in terms of contamination control an 8 or better (on a scale of 1–10, with 10 being the best).

Mental and physical wellness are integrated into the daily experience of the station. Warm, home-like interiors that have natural daylight and pleasant acoustics encourage the crew to spend time together to build camaraderie.

Technological and operational upgrades elevate the station to modern standards. A Westnet alerting system ensures prompt and clear response activation. Apparatus bay floors feature radiant heat.

A MagneGrip direct-capture vehicle exhaust system maintains clean air in the bays. Environmentally, the station is designed to accommodate future personal vehicle charging stations. Response times were optimized through strategic spatial planning. Bedrooms are arranged along a double-loaded corridor that leads directly to the apparatus bay. The training room includes an exit that’s adjacent to the apparatus bay. This was important to the Station Design Awards judges, who typically don’t favor training rooms that are located on the second floor.

One of the key construction challenges was maintaining the existing station’s operations during buildout on the same site. The construction sequence also was adapted for Michigan’s cold winter.

For example, all concrete grade beams were poured first, followed by steel erection before the foundation was poured. Through thoughtful planning, innovative spatial solutions, and a steadfast commitment to firefighter health and safety, the new Fire Station No. 1 exemplifies what it means to design for performance, resilience and care.

Architect: Integrated Architecture & BRW Architects