Fire Department Headquarters Proposal in San Francisco by THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Article source: THE OPEN WORKSHOP 

A fire station typically is organized into two distinct zones — one that reaches outwards to the city and acts as a monumental symbol of protection, and one that contains the hidden inner workings of the station. In a large headquarters, with a diverse set of programs each with their own unique spatial requirements, such a strategy of containment is untenable.

View of the Headquarters from the Embarcadero, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

• Architects: THE OPEN WORKSHOP
• Project: Fire Department Headquarters Proposal
• Location: San Francisco, U.S.A
• Year: 2013
• Project Team: Neeraj Bhatia, Alicia Hergenroeder, Jonathan Negron, De Peter Yi, Wei Zhao

View of inscribed zone and training tower in background, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Instead this proposal divides select components of the fire station and arrays them onto the pier to activate two zones — anexterior surface and an enclosed voided room. Seeking definition in an expansive site, the pier’s rectangular depression, which was originally a slip, offers a formal and organizational axis around which all built form oscillates.

Overall view of complex looking North, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

These zones are separated by a manifold façade that inflects its form to establish an understanding of the site as always in the bound to the center, reaching both outwardly and inwardly, and challenging a clear understanding of a “front” façade. Instead, our proposed façade inflects to reveal the inner workings of the fire station as well as its monumental civic image.

Diagram showing the relationship of inflected form and façade., Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

While bounded by the private program, one gain glimpses into the public and vice versa. By revealing the inner workings of the station, and recomposing the monumental image of the fire station through a grouping of form, it creates a multifaceted headquarters that invites the city’s residents into the life of the station.

Diagram of programmatic re-grouping of the fire-station, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Diagram of Site Strategy, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Simultaneous Worm’s-eye/ Bird’s-eye view showing inscribed volume and activated surface, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Site plan of the pier, Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Plan of fire station complex., Image Courtesy © THE OPEN WORKSHOP

Tags: San Francisco, U.S.A.

Categories: Fire Station, Headquarters

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