Michael Njo

The role that a firehouse serves is a combination of two purposes: living and working. My partner, Andrea Hopkins, and I carried this idea throughout our design for this project. At its heart, the program of the building takes on a rational, orthogonal form which is juxtaposed by an abstract perforated corten steel screen. The screen itself mimicks how trees naturally filter light, becoming very opaque in areas that are meant to be darker (such as the dormitories of the firefighters). Inversely, the screen becomes translucent in areas that should be lighter (such as workspaces and common living areas).

Programmatically, it was imperative to design with an awareness of the three different contamination zones: hot, medium, and cool. Hot being the areas that see the most contamination, primarily the garage for the trucks. Medium areas are decontamination zones, such as gear cleaning areas and the showers. Cool areas are the regular living and working zones, which should have no levels of outside contimation from fires. 

HVAC

Egress

Structure

Electrical

Plumbing

Sustainability Strategies 

Rear Patio

Living Space Hallway

Bioretention Pond

Entry

Transversal Section

Longitudinal Section

3D Site Model