Emporia Fire Station

The Civic Auditorium is home to Emporia’s basketball team as well as hosting other civic offices. The existing downtown fire station is one of those civic services that was a puzzle piece forced to adapt to the available space with no room to expand to match the growth of the community.

A new 25,000 SF station is proposed to be constructed adjacent to the Civic Auditorium to maintain the Department’s downtown presence and maintain response times. A facility solely focusing on the operations of a fire department, the design is focused on efficiencies, decontamination, and providing training elements along with incorporating mental and behavioral health strategies like daylighting and individual sleeping stations to tie into the urban fabric, bridging the gap between the American civic architecture and the community residential neighborhood. The building is a fusion of these two styles, indicated by the flat parapets and pitched hip roof types. The traditional fire station materials of hardy brick and stone were chosen to complement the civic context.