This fire station, situated near the mouth St. Johns River one mile inland from the Atlantic Ocean, is designed to accommodate both land and marine firefighting operations.  The building houses a three-truck apparatus bay for land side fire and rescue service.  The program also includes a boat dock to provide marine firefighting capability near the Port of Jacksonville, Mayport Navy Station, and passenger cruise terminal.  The criteria dictated that the structure be able to withstand 150 mph wind speeds and a Category 3 hurricane storm surge, and be LEED certified.

Our objective, as directed by our Design/Build partner was to “just build a box” for maximum efficiency.  While maintaining the spirit of this objective, we were able to manipulate the massing of this simple box in a way that expressed the internal function through changes in roof height, wall plane, and fenestration pattern.  Subtle changes in tone and texture further reinforced this sense of façade depth and layering. Lastly, accents of red were sparingly used to highlight design features such as canopies and eyebrow coverings.