Will Fire Stations of the Future Go Heavy Metal?
When planning a new fire station, how much thought do you give to the exterior of the facility? Does it need to fit into the community’s downtown buildings or for a satellite station in a neighborhood?
In the 2023 Station Design Conference, May 23-25, in St. Louis, MO, presentations will encourage designing fire stations to last—50 to 75 years. How difficult is it to talk about 20 years from now, let alone 50 years? We just learned about red/yellow/green zones to prevent cancer-causing carcinogens in stations. What hides in the future?
“Station of the Future,” by Patrick Stone, R.A. LEED AP, and Dennis Ross, AIA, H2M architects + engineers, will address advanced technology in fire stations, including electric vehicles and unmanned systems, biometrics, and more. Their focus is on interior technology. What’s in the works for fire station exteriors?
MBMA design competition
Along with other discussions on the future, the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) held its annual Student Design Competition and the focus this year was on fire stations. Full-time undergraduate and graduate students from North American colleges/universities were tasked to create innovative metal building fire station designs. The entrants worked under the direction of a faculty sponsor individually or in teams. No entry fee was required and prize money was awarded to the team and the faculty sponsor.
The MBMA program for the 2022 competition was developed by Eric Pros, AIA, Director of Design, for DS Architecture, who served as the lead juror. Judging criteria included a suitable proposal for the context and architectural design; technical integrity; innovative use of metal building systems and sustainable energy.
The scenario for the competition was a local city issued RFPs for a new fire station headquarters to replace their 60-year-old facility. The building will house administrative staff, fire and emergency medical services (EMS). In addition, the request specified space for a museum, memorial and regional training facility. MBMA requested the project to use metal-building construction with a maximum of two stories.
The request was specific to the interior of the building. The RFP stated the project would be municipally funded and should incorporate regional vernacular into its design and be a symbol of civic pride for residents.
This year’s competition received 48 submissions from colleges across North America and Central America. Among the entry guidelines, a video, of less than two minutes, of the project was required. The winners, announced last month, were three graduate students and the undergraduate winners included one team and two individuals.
“Although some of the designs are pretty futuristic looking,” said Pros, “we directed the students to explore current trends in station design to keep them grounded.” He added Firehouse.com was a resource throughout their project. “It’s evident the students incorporated many relevant topics in their designs,” he added.
According to the MBMA, the annual competition is held to feature the benefits of metal building systems, which include structural efficiency and both sustainable and cost-saving perspectives for fire stations. The building systems are custom-engineered and fabricated in accordance with strict quality assurance standards.
Lee Shoemaker, P.E., Ph.D., Director of Research & Engineering, MBMA, said, “The primary objective of our competition is to make students and faculty aware of the opportunities to utilize metal building systems for interesting applications. The fire station design really seemed to excite the students and they probably learned as much about the needs of firefighters and station design in today’s world as they did about metal buildings – which was a fantastic outcome.”
And the winners are...
Two University of Massachusetts graduate students under Faculty Advisor Stephen Schreiber, had the winning and 1st place graduate entries. Schreiber said he had 10 students in his studio working on the project.
“The town of Amherst is trying to build a fire station and the specifications for the trucks, beds, chief’s office, aligned well with the competition specifications,” he said. The site for the new Amherst fire station will be on the public works current location.
Schreiber said traditionally metal buildings have been “back of the house” structures. The competition raised awareness, not only among the up-and-coming architectural students but the design elements of the structure can fit any community’s requirements.
Schreiber added, “One of the things people like about metal buildings is the costs are predictable versus conventional buildings and that’s a huge advantage of the systems.”
Check out the MBMA website for the winners and entries’ fire station designed “out of a metal box.”
Eric Pros is active in several regional architectural projects, particularly to support education and networking in architectural design. Pros shared, “It was truly an honor to create the fire station-focused program for this year’s international competition which presented design students with quite a complex challenge for one semester.”
If you are planning, designing or building a new station or facility, the 2023 Station Design Conference offers emerging trends and incubator innovations for your project. The station of the future will be here before you know it. Are you ready?
Janet A. Wilmoth | Special Projects Director
Janet Wilmoth grew up in a family of firefighters in a suburb of Chicago. Wilmoth, who is owner of Wilmoth Associates, worked with Fire Chief magazine for 27 years until it closed in 2013. She currently is the project director for Firehouse, overseeing the Station Design Conference.
