As I walked around Naperville (Ill.) Fire Department’s Station No. 10, Deputy Chief Mike Zywanski pointed out that the drill rig behind the station was inserting sleeves for the pipes that would provide cost-saving geothermal heating and cooling inside the new station.
Zywanski pointed to the opaque-looking windows high above the apparatus bay, which allow natural light into the facility while limiting exposure to the neighboring residential area.
Lighting can have another effect inside a fire station according to Zywanski. Prior to this new station, Naperville Fire Department always had racks on the bay walls for the firefighters’ turnout gear. According to NFPA 1851, ultraviolet rays from the sun and incandescent light — which give off UV — deteriorates the fabric of turnout gear.
“One of the things that I saw as a judge with Station Style Design Awards was to have a separate gear room,” Zywanski said. “I fought pretty hard for that with our city administration, but ultimately, the turnout gear will last longer in a room without windows.”
He pointed out other new features of the green station, one of which is that it is more energy efficient than Station No. 9, which was built in 2006. “For the taxpayers’ benefit, the energy efficiency of this station is 35% better than any other fire station this size,” Zywanski said.
Speaking of Station No. 9, Zywanski said that everything that could go wrong in a building did. He said Station No. 10 was at the opposite end of the spectrum from Station No. 9.
“Looking back, many of the problems associated with Fire Station No. 9 could have been avoided if we had done some things differently in the planning process, the design process, construction-delivery process and in communications with the construction team,” he said.
Zywanski will present his lessons learned in “Construction Manager-at-Risk Delivery Method,” at our 2010 Station Style Conference to be held April 11–13, in Overland Park, Kan.
The complete program will be posted on the Web site this week and include cover everything from concept and design to construction and finance to security and LEED. The ever-popular pre-conference programs include the one-on-one with experienced, objective architects, as well as an experts’ panel. New programs include “The Lifecycle of Strategic Planning Processes,” “Understanding ADA,” and “Building Security into your Station.” The solid, basic programs include operations-based design, building training into your station and site location for response time.
And then there are the unique lessons learned from the Alexandria (Va.) Fire Department’s new Potomac Yard fire station. Paul Erickson, of the architecture firm LeMay Erickson Willcox, will explain the challenge of using public/private financing for a fire station that also houses 62 apartments above, a multi-level parking garage below and a retail shop in the front.
As Zywanski will attest, designing smarter can save you money.
