In Quarters: Cambridge, MA, Station 10

This facility received the Career 2 Notable award in the 2025 Firehouse Station Design Awards. Find the full list of winners here. 

During one of its largest historical rehabilitations, the city of Cambridge ran into a massive problem. The process of gut-renovating the century-old Cambridge Fire Headquarters required the relocation of all personnel and the station’s apparatus out of the facility during construction. In a densely developed city, space to safely house people and apparatus for years is at a premium. To solve this, the architect decided to approach the problem by implementing a temporary modular fire station.

The biggest challenge of siting Station 10 was to ensure quick response times yet simultaneously mitigate noise for the surrounding community. Forty-four feasibility studies of 27 sites led to the selection of a creative choice: Spaulding Hospital’s parking lot.

Station 10’s site accomplishes three important goals: lessening the effect of engine noise on a dense urban neighborhood, accessibility to a residential district and high visibility from a main route. Station 10 has the added advantage of location in the neighborhood of its headquarters. The new station’s prominent visibility, including its red palette, makes it instantly recognizable as a firehouse and an anchor of safety in its neighborhood. Among the remarks from the Station Design Awards judges: “The attention to detail in the exterior design of the building is remarkable since it is a temporary building.”

The station is composed of four separate apparatus bays that are stitched together, each with the capacity to hold its own vehicles, including a dive rescue unit to handle incident responses and training on the Charles River. In addition, the facility contains the essentials of any fire station in a separate extension: a kitchen, a full sprinkler system, common areas, gender-neutral bathrooms, individual bunkrooms and a fitness center.

Wall insulation, low-flow water fixtures and energy-efficient LED lighting reduce operational expenses for the all-electric building. Wash-down-ready engineering enables immediate cleaning of the facility. Direct-exhaust-capture technology diverts diesel exhaust to the outside.

An advanced decontamination network that separates Hot Zones from living quarters protects staff from fumes, toxins and possible carcinogen transfer.

Planned to be used for the three-year headquarters renovation, Station 10 exemplifies the potential for modular technology to serve municipalities that have aging stations but lack funds for a new building, as the building may be transported and reused on future projects. The construction speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of modular building could enable more municipalities to update, expand or replace their firehouses with top-shelf construction and amenities to keep first responders physically and mentally healthy.

Once the team moves back into the headquarters, Station 10 allows the department to renovate other aging and potentially unsafe fire stations by relocating other personnel and apparatus to this building. Thus, this station has the potential to be in commission for closer to 8 years before heading to another nearby community.

Architect: The Galante Architecture Studio