Design of Colorado Springs Fire Station #1 nationally recognized

HB&A’s addition and remodel design for Colorado Springs Fire Station #1 has earned a Bronze Award in the category of Renovation from Firehouse Magazine. This is Firehouse Magazine’s the ninth annual Station Design Awards program, which recognizes outstanding architecture and design from fire departments and emergency facilities nationwide. 

Gold, Silver and Bronze awards are issued across seven categories of facilities in this prestigious competition: Career 1 and 2, Satellite, Volunteer/Combination, Shared, Public Safety Training, and Renovation.

Peter Matthews, Firehouse editor-in-chief said, “This is the ninth year of the awards, and we are excited to see the advances in fire station designs. It’s wonderful to see the coordination between fire departments and architectural firms to design stations with a focus on keeping firefighters trained and healthy to better serve their communities.”

Winners were selected by a panel of seven judges, including fire chiefs and architects experienced in recent design and construction.

All participants will appear in print and online in Firehouse Magazine’s November 2022 issue.

Colorado Springs Fire Station #23 opens doors

Colorado Springs, CO - Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) officials cut the ribbon on Fire Station #23 on Tuesday, November 1, 2022 during an open house event for the community.

The new station merges two city services into one building, radio repair shop for the entire city fleet (police, fire and other) and fire station coverage for the southeast part of the city.

This much-need station will respond to calls in the Knob Hill and surrounding neighborhoods, it has already made a positive impact, shortening response times in the area.

The event was attended by Mayor John Suthers, and three city councilmen, Wayne Williams, Tom Strand and Dave Donelson and hosted by Colorado Springs Fire Chief Randy Royal.

Inside look at Aurora Fire Station #16

Last week we took a quick field trip up to Aurora to visit and photograph Fire Station #16. We completed Fire Station #16 in 2019, but didn’t have any inside photo, only outside shots.

When the City of Aurora required a new fire station to provide emergency services to the Gaylord Resort and Conference Center and booming housing developments under construction near the Denver Airport, they called on HB&A to help. Fire Station 16 was built to coincide with the opening of the Gaylord and houses an engine company and ladder company.

This two-story station separates private sleeping rooms on the upper floor from general living quarters on the ground floor to encourage rest and recovery. A large kitchen and dining room are at the heart of station life and open to a partially covered patio that doubles as an outdoor workout space. The fitness room, also adjacent to the patio, has high ceilings permitting good daylighting and natural ventilation. Each officer’s suite includes a private office, sleeping room, and bathroom. A large community room is open for public use and doubles as classroom space for firefighter training. Health and safety measures include airlocks between living and apparatus areas, dedicated decontamination and laundry rooms, and enclosed bunker gear storage. A mezzanine overlooking the apparatus bays provides storage and in-station training opportunities.

The station is constructed of durable materials with a modern industrial aesthetic. Horizontal accent bands accentuate the concrete masonry walls which are surmounted by vertical metal panels at the upper level. Angled exposed steel beams emphasize the building entries and are painted red to match the metal trim. Interior finishes include colored polished concrete floors, metal panel wainscot on corridor walls, and durable metal casework in the kitchen and dining room.

Digging in the dirt

HB&A & Mark Young Construction teams attended the groundbreaking for the Colorado Springs Fire Station and Radio this week. This fire station project kicked off in early 2020, eventually the building will be home to Fire Station #23, which serves the rapidly growing Southeast area of the city and the city’s radio repair crew. We’re excited to see dirt fly on this project!