2021 HONOR AWARD - Salt Lake City Fire Department Training Center

{"version":"0.3.0","atoms":[],"cards":[],"markups":[],"sections":[[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"Sometimes a successful project requires a brave and open-minded\nclient; particularly when the project has an incredibly restrictive budget.\nWhen Salt Lake City Fire Department approached the Design Team, their initial\nidea was to demolish an existing fire station to make room for a new Fire\nTraining Center. However, the $1.3M construction budget would only allow for a\npre-engineered metal building or sprung structure to replace the station. The\n7,300 GSF former station had largely been abandoned except for the Apparatus Bay,\nwhich was used infrequently for fire fighter recruit training purposes. The\nDesign Team approached the client with a message of maximizing the available\nbudget with a simple, yet dramatic, design approach, while also being more sustainable\nand environmentally responsible. At the initial kick-off meeting, the Team\ntalked of the embodied energy associated with the construction and transport of\na pre-engineered building solution, as well as the energy used to heat and cool\nthe large volume of unused overhead space inherent in those structures. Perhaps\nof more importance was avoiding the quantity of waste \u2013 over four and a half\nmillion pounds of concrete and asphalt \u2013 destined for a landfill. By leaving\nthe building\u2019s structure of pre-cast concrete tees, the design solution could\nstill achieve energy performance levels above and beyond that required for code\ncompliance, as well as breathe a new 50-year life-span into an existing\nbuilding and avoid unnecessary waste."]]],[1,"p",[[0,[],0,"From a design aesthetic perspective, the DesignTeam assured\nthe Fire Department that they could achieve a dynamic new civic fa\u00e7ade and\ninviting, day-lit workspaces by utilizing and manipulating the station\u2019s 1960\u2019s-era\nstructural shell. This area, along the city\u2019s western edge, is a haphazard\nassemblage of urban industrial development spanning several decades. The raw,\nutilitarian nature of this context, and the restrictive construction budget,\ninformed the material choices for the project. \nUtilizing the building\u2019s pre-cast concrete tee structure, the architects\ndeveloped a cost-effective cladding strategy that created texture, depth and\nmovement, while also providing a double skin that both helps cool the building and\nshade openings. The architects researched raw steel sheet metal products to\nunderstand the most cost-effective and readily-available standard sizes. From there,\nthey developed two cladding widths of the same height. The two panel widths are\neach bent, folded and shaped into a \u201cpanel module\u201d. Each panel module can be\nrotated 180 degrees as well as perforated, allowing a variation of as many as\neight different module profiles \u0026 textures across the fa\u00e7ade. The \u201coffcuts\u201d\nof the original steel panels were utilized in soffits and fascia panels at canopies\ndenoting public and private entry points. \nTo further establish the building with the SLC Fire Department identity,\nthe Design Team painted the cladding \u201cfire engine red\u201d and treated the existing\nbuilding shell with a muted grey paint as a backdrop to both the dynamic\ncladding and a new water-conscious landscape scheme. The design team opted for\nlocating a continuous insulation barrier to the interior side of the exterior\nto allow for a dynamic fa\u00e7ade that creates a direct relationship between the\nold and the new."]]],[1,"p",[]]]}