Fire Station Form, Function

by Christopher Brinckerhoff | 1 June 2020 12:00 am

Doug Stroh, president Stroh Architecture Inc. in Prescott, Ariz., says, “We used mono pitches everywhere except for the bays, and it really sort of emphasizes and draws you to the main door visually; you don’t get lost.”

Composite Building

The building is comprised of two main sections: an office and residential section, and an equipment garage. To create angular forms for an entrance, community meeting room and residential space, Stroh Architecture designed the office/residential section with wood stick framing. The garage section is a metal building system.

“We could have continued using more of that metal building system, but when you start doing more of those vertical mono pitch roof elements and things, you start losing the economy of scale, so that’s why we decided to do more of a composite type system,” Stroh says.

Uniform Look

The varying forms give the building a consistent, unified look. Building materials also unify the design. Metal panels, masonry and glazing are interwoven around it.

“You can’t really tell from the outside that it’s not an all metal building because the metal siding and everything just continues,” Stroh says. “We added some masonry accents, and that masonry is used again in the columns between the rollup doors. We splash the masonry around throughout, and the metal, it sort of weaves in and out with the three main materials.”

Terra cotta-colored, horizontal, corrugated metal panels alternate with sections of concrete masonry unit (CMU) blocks in two colors. The primary color, terra cotta, is offset at the wall bottoms by dark gray horizontal banding. CMUs were used for endwalls as well.

For the metal walls, Tempe, Ariz.-based Arizona Corporate Builders LLC installed 5,188 square feet of Salem, Ore.-based Taylor Metal Inc.’s 1.125-inchdeep, 24-gauge MX-1 panels in Terra Cotta. The metal building system was supplied by Star Building Systems in Oklahoma City.

In contrast with the earth-toned metal and masonry, the fire station has white roofing, gutters and window framing. Arizona Corporate Builders installed 14,833 square feet of Houston-based MBCI’s 24-gauge Battenlock HS metal roof panels in White. Phoenix-based Precision Glass and Aluminum LLC supplied and installed its storefront systems and windows with thermally broken aluminum framing in white.

Conservation of Energy

The fire station is optimized for energy conservation, as well. Its orientation, floor plan, daylighting and mechanical equipment contribute to a passive design with energy-efficient components. Spray foam insulation insulates the roof to R-50 and walls to R-24, and it was built to meet Energy Star criteria.

“The building is on an east/west axis, which is, for passive solar design that’s very important,” Stroh says. “In summer the sun is straight overhead, just coming down on a white, reflective roof. And then in the winter, it’s very low and in the south, the southern hemisphere, so you’re getting that nice low winter sun that’s coming in to not only the bays, but that’s where we have the living quarters for the crews.”

Locale and Community Connections

In addition to meeting the needs for building usage, CRIT fire station’s angular forms tie it to its location, where there are mountains. Earth-toned building materials follow the same connection.

“All those exterior colors were influenced by the surrounding geography,” Stroh says. “There’re mountains to the west, and of course we wanted to use a terra cotta/red because it’s a fire station. We didn’t go with fire station red, but it ties in with those colors.”

Furthermore, CRIT fire station is used for more than typical fire department operations. A meeting room at the front of the building with a large wall of glazing is used for multiple events including training with fire fighters from other districts, educator meetings, tribal council meetings and other community events.

The distinct looking building is designed to stand out to people entering the reservation and signify its importance to the community. “It’s on the main highway where you’re coming into the reservation,” Stroh says. “And in our opinion, [the owners] wanted to make a very positive statement. A lot of the materials and orientation were dictated by the climate, by the site. But we wanted to create a very robust-looking building, somewhat monumental.”

Finding a balance between form and function, Stroh says, “It’s really a community building that happens to house some firemen.”

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/fire-station-form-function/

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