Station-22

Asheville, North Carolina

Fire Hall and Community Center

Spring, 2015

Slow, fast; rest, response; the life of a fire fighter is unpredictable. At any moment the call could come in; the alarm sounds and everything changes. The design for the new Asheville Fire Station draws precedent from the unpredictable life of a fire fighter. Though there are moments of high intensity, the fast; the majority of the day falls in the realm of the slow, the rest, the daily tasks that allow fire halls to operate day in and day out.

Situated at the primary entrance to downtown Asheville, Station 22 marks a new threshold to the downtown announcing its civic presence and emergency preparedness. Previously pushed to the periphery of the city, multiple community service organizations including a homeless shelter are located adjacent to the site and become integral to the design. The facility responds to two emergencies, the accident emergency, and the economic emergency of the local homeless community.

Station 22 redefines the role of a fire station in the context of the community bridging the gap between community protection and community care. It acts as a social sanctuary not just for those who serve under its roof but also those living nearby without a place to call their own. The expansion of the public realm into a plaza to adjacent to the homeless shelter not only creates public space as an amenity for the community to enjoy, but also reinforces the idea of the facility itself as an amenity. The design acts as a framework for both encouraging and embracing community engagement while simultaneously raising awareness of the economic crises that people would typically drive past without noticing.

The community room is the primary public indoor space. It is both an event space as well as place of rest and refuge for the local homeless community. If A larger venue is required, the community room can be opened to the first apparatus bay. The lobby and second apparatus bay are also open to the public during open houses and general tours.