City of Ft. Lauderdale Fire Station No. 49
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Construction Cost: $5.5 Million
Completion Date: 2009
Program:
- Replace existing obsolete fire facility at same location, located in central beach district by AIA Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway.
- Accommodate three apparatus bays, living and working areas for ten person shift. -Design facility to fit necessary turning radius and clearance for three fire trucks, allowing for required parking spaces and new building on truncated urban waterfront site.
Innovations:
- Three-story building form derived from shape of site.
- The large and small fenestrations, unmarked entrance, and solid front balconies are carved from the masonry exterior, through which equipment, people, light, and air pass, creating an animated, controlled space, which blends into the surroundings of the Central Beach Marina and Hotel corridor.
- Apparatus bays and 2,000 SF of community and operational spaces on the ground floor; second floor holds living spaces, offices, a dayroom, and gymnasium; third floor houses mechanical penthouse.
- All floors connected through mechanical shaft at eastern tip of building.
- The shaft connects the new underground fuel tank with the generator in the penthouse.
- Concrete block structure, capped by flat roof, with raised parapets.
- Creative design elements include a decorative steel wall system angled for shade and a screened enclosed balcony.
- All architectural elements continue around the facility facing adjacent properties avoiding the pitfall of any neighbor facing the "rear" of the building.