In Quarters: Waco, TX, Fire Station #15
This facility received the Satelitte Gold award in the 2025 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here.
Waco Fire Station #15 prioritizes both functionality and community service. The architectural approach employs clean, simple forms that include single-slope roofs, which create an efficient, three-drive-through-bay facility that maximizes operational effectiveness while respecting budgetary constraints. The design team orchestrated the spatial layout to ensure rapid emergency response by positioning sleeping quarters directly adjacent to the apparatus bays. This strategic placement minimizes response time while maintaining necessary separation between operational and living areas through sophisticated airlock systems.
The station’s design goes beyond basic functionality to address the evolving needs of modern firefighting. A dedicated decontamination area provides a crucial transition zone, to allow firefighters to move from potentially hazardous environments to living spaces without compromising safety or cleanliness.
As a satellite facility, the station incorporates a training classroom with secure, independent access.
The Station Design Awards judges deemed this facet of the facility’s design particularly impressive.
The interior embraces an open-concept design philosophy, integrating workstations for administrative tasks within communal areas rather than isolating them in separate offices.
This approach not only optimized construction costs but, more importantly, fosters team cohesion and communication.
The architectural language speaks to both tradition and innovation, utilizing strategic color accents and branding elements that create visual continuity with the city’s other fire stations while establishing the facility’s own identity. Vibrant color applications bridge interior and exterior spaces, to reinforce departmental identity while energizing the work environment. These design choices reflect a nuanced understanding that fire stations serve as both functional emergency response facilities and important civic landmarks within their community.
The Station Design Awards judges gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to the facility’s “elegant” and “dynamic” curbside appeal.
Through careful material selection and spatial planning, the design achieves multiple objectives: operational efficiency, fiscal responsibility and architectural distinction. The result is a facility that serves its primary mission of protecting the community while providing firefighters with a safe, efficient and uplifting environment that supports their demanding work. This project demonstrates how thoughtful design can enhance public safety infrastructure, creating spaces that honor the dedication of first responders while serving as responsible investments in community well-being.
Architect: Martinez Architects