Waterford Fire Station

Located in an inhospitable environment on a ring road around the city, the Fire Station folds its functions to enclose a training yard, the building form derived from tracking movements of fire engines leaving and returning at speed. Zinc was selected for its robust appearance and performance, a simple skin wrapping a variety of functions into a coherent, strong three-storey form. A rooftop public room sits over 2 training floors, with glazed appliance bays giving views of fire engines to children passing on the street. Ireland’s Fire Stations are public buildings to which people come – they play a significant role in community celebrations like St Patrick’s Day Festival, when fire tenders are decorated and parade through city streets – in this context the enclosure becomes an urban space, its drill tower a reminder of distant urban monuments, a piece of city in a wild environment.

Shaped around the active service the Fire Station delivers where speed and technical preparation is paramount, a clear dynamic form with essential ground floor functions encloses a practical yard which protects staff and equipment from potential vandalism. A ribbon of linked functions generates a spiral, rising from vehicle parking, workshops and dormitories to first floor offices, canteen, leisure and study facilities, and terminates in a second floor lecture theatre. The roof is angled and cut away to provide a series of sheltered insideoutside spaces overlooking the yard, where the drill tower acts like an urban beacon in a new public space. In parallel with this organisational arrangement, the Fire Station operates like a large family, with tough training designed to foster bonds of mutual support essential for hazardous fire fighting. So the concept for the Station is like a big house, with people arriving at different hours, some sleeping, some wakeful linked spaces conducive to family life, facilitating everything from serious training, individual study, communal recreation, to cooking the Sunday dinner in the heart of operations – the canteen.

Structure Ecocem GGBS concrete floors / stairs cores. Steel roof structures & plywood sheeting. Airtight blockwork walls Insulation Irish “A-rated” standard Finishes Long life Zinc cladding Aluminium glazing GGBS parking surfaces Active Sustainable Systems- Rainwater harvesting Heat recovery ventilation Daylight sensor artificial lighting