Restless Response: Emergency Medical Station 50 at Queens Hospital in New York City by Dean/Wolf Architects

Article source: v2com

The Queens Hospital EMS station was commissioned by the design excellence initiative process implemented by the New York City Department of Design and Construction, for the Fire Department of New York City.

Kathryn Dean, Principal for Dean/Wolf Architects explains the design by staying “I am interested in the capacity for architecture to convey identity and meaning through emotional resonance. I believe this happens through the impact of materials and form coming together in a particular place… In order to understand the building, it is important to understand two departure points: First, the building was commissioned shortly after 9/11. Second, when I work, I often build intuitive paper models to investigate ideas. When I received the commission, I started making these models. After several more rational schemes, the double horizontal bars emerged. It took me a bit of thought to realize why this felt right. They were my own deep emotional response to the fallen towers.”

The diagonal form pulses with the anticipation of movement, embodying the programmatic need for immediate action and energizing the community with a sense of engagement, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

• Architects: Dean/Wolf Architects
• Project: Restless Response: Emergency Medical Station 50 at Queens Hospital
• Location: New York City, USA
• Photography: Paul Warchol

The signature FDNY-red overhead garage doors punctuate the street façade, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

The EMS station occupies the northern edge of the existing Queens Hospital campus facing onto the residentially scaled Goethals Avenue. The 13,000 square foot building mediates between the disparate scales of the existing ten-story hospital structure and the diminutive two-story bungalows. It is large in plan to address the scale of the hospital and small in section to achieve a residential scale as it faces the neighborhood.

The street at the edge of the site slopes quite dramatically. You feel the pull of gravity as you walk up or down the street, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

The building is a dramatic release of energy similar to the release of energy that happens when an ambulance leaves during an emergency, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

The unusual topography of the physical site slopes in two directions. The sloping of the street is mirrored in the gentle slope of the low roof which relieves the height of the street wall on the low end of the site.  The upper bar at the rear of the site is employed to create covered parking. Engaging this landform invigorates a dissipated site, respects the scale of the neighborhood, and expresses the restless energy inherent in emergency services.

The 24 hour facility is a beacon for the neighborhood, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

FDNY red was custom matched into materials such as the concrete block walls, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

The taut glass and aluminum exterior surfaces impart a crisp, disciplined appearance to the facility, while the transparency constantly makes evident the readiness of the staff of dedicated personnel within. The signature FDNY-red overhead garage doors are the focal point of the street façade. The patterned concrete walls and landscape buffer along with new street trees and lighting denote a civic presence in the neighborhood appropriate to the vital role that the FDNY has in the everyday life of all New Yorkers.

FDNY identity is reinforced throughout the circulation with red tile and fluorescent linear lighting that emulate passing ambulances, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

Windows on all sides of the station office allow officers to oversee the secure areas of the building, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

Dean/Wolf Architects of New York City has been named a winner in the first annual AAP American Architecture Prize, which recognizes the most outstanding architecture worldwide.

The AAP American Architecture Prize honours exceptional designs in 41 categories across three disciplines: architectural design, interior design, and landscape architecture. Dean/Wolf Architects won a Gold Medal in the Institutional Architecture Category for Restless Response: Emergency Medical Station 50 at Queens Hospital.

The building is tiered to accommodate the sloped site topography and an underground utility tunnel, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

A long span truss carries the entire second floor distributing the load away from an underground utility tunnel, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

About Dean/Wolf Architects

New York City–based Dean/Wolf Architects have been praised for their uncanny ability to turn architectural constraints into powerful generators of form. Since founding the firm in 1991, Kathryn Dean and her  has completed residential and institutional projects at a variety of scales. All of these projects are distinguished by a thought-provoking manipulation of light and space.

The building’s 30-foot cantilever hangs over the driveway leading to staff parking at the rear, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

The firm’s award-winning loft interiors are small-scale wonders precisely crafted from sensual materials like concrete, steel, maple, and glass. Dean/Wolf Architects activates these highly resonant materials with deliberately focused light in order to dissolve boundaries of interior and exterior space. For Dean/Wolf Architects, this requires not only a consideration of physical space, but also a psychological engagement between the client’s mind and the space they inhabit.

Second story offices look out upon the nearby community of small scale residential buildings, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

Cast-in-place concrete walls are found on both the interior and exterior, such as in this staircase linking the offices on the second floor to the station below, Image Courtesy © Paul Warchol

Plans, Second and First Floor, Image Courtesy © Dean/Wolf Architects

Tags: New York City, USA

Categories: Emergency, Hospital, Medical Center

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