NEW ORLEANS – (July 10, 2023) – On June 22, the City of New Orleans hosted a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the start of the final construction phase for the New Orleans Fire Department’s (NOFD) new headquarters designed by local architecture and interiors firm NANO, LLC. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, NOFD Chief Roman Nelson, NANO designer Sam LeBlanc, FEMA representatives and other government officials attended the ceremony at the 401 City Park Avenue location.
Through this transformational renovation, the city’s former Municipal Training Academy building — a 20,000 square-foot postmodern brick and plaster structure with a gabled roof — will become the new NOFD headquarters and a resilient storm shelter. Set to function as both an administrative office and a 24-hour operations center, the facility is designed to consolidate NOFD resources, improve communication and preparedness and cultivate an enhanced sense of community among New Orleans fire fighters.
"I am very excited and honored to be part of the New Orleans Fire Department Headquarters project team,” said Sam LeBlanc, NANO's lead designer on the project. “This renovation will give a new home to these dedicated first responders, the people we rely on in our times of greatest need."
When hurricane damage and environmental issues forced the NOFD to close its headquarters in 2011, staff and resources were scattered across the city. The new location and new facility will bring everything back under one storm-resilient roof. Working in close collaboration with NOFD leadership, NANO redesigned the building for 24-hour operation.
In addition to updating the interior to accommodate the complex program needed for an emergency response building, NANO created spaces for offices, administration areas, conference rooms, medical and training facilities, a fully equipped dormitory, a state-of-the-art gym, an expansive kitchen, a recreation room and a disaster recovery area. NANO designed a 1,500 square foot bridge that will connect the main building and an adjacent auditorium, creating a distinctive gateway to mark the facility’s entry and give it a more modern sensibility.
Not only will the improvements enhance the building’s aesthetic, they will also make it safer. NANO upgraded the building to a Type II-B, Risk Category IV compliant structure. In addition to site remediation, waterproofing, and impact-resistant glazing, NANO carved out a secure space for a large generator, an access control system fully integrated into the security monitoring system, and resilient flood mitigation and stormwater management solutions.
When completed, the updated building’s flexible spaces and durable design will ensure that, when disaster hits, the city’s first responders will be ready.
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About NANO, LLC Founded in 2001 in New Orleans, Louisiana, NANO is a female-owned, internationally recognized, award-winning firm providing architecture and interior design services for new construction, renovations and historic preservation within the commercial, residential, educational, industrial, and municipal sectors. The motivating philosophy and ethos of our success is one of spatial relationships based upon a series of scales; NANO thinks of every project as encompassing not only the most removed, observable viewpoint, but also the most detailed. We approach every project not only at the scale of the city, the block and the street, but also at the level of the smallest minutiae – the joint, the reveal and the grain. In the process of developing our clients’ projects, no scale is superior – they all must work together to structure the overall design concept. Committed to resilient, sustainable, and socially responsible building practices, NANO is a proud signatory of the American Institute of Architects’ 2030 Challenge.
