How Fire Stations Work (so dumb its genius)
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Join me on an exclusive tour of two remarkable fire stations in Columbus, Indiana - Fire Stations #4 and #5. Each with its own architectural significance and story, these stations are more than just emergency response centers; they're symbols of community and design innovation.
Station #4 - Venturi's Architectural Gem: We start with Fire Station #4, designed by the renowned Robert Venturi. Discover why this building, despite its ordinary appearance, stands out in the world of architecture. We delve into its unique facade, symbolic elements, and how it caters to its specific district.
Station #5 - A Progressive Design by Susana Torre: Next, we explore Fire Station #5, a testament to inclusivity and modern design principles. Designed by Susana Torre, this station addresses gender bias in architecture and offers a unique layout to accommodate a diverse workforce.
Behind the Scenes of Fire Station Design: Understand the critical components of fire station design, from apparatus bays to living quarters. Learn how these buildings are optimized for emergency response while providing a comfortable living space for firefighters.
Why Fire Stations Matter: Discover how fire stations are more than emergency centers; they're a reflection of social values, design innovation, and community identity. Get insights into the little-known architectural aspects that make these buildings unique.
Engage with Us: Liked the tour? Share your thoughts in the comments! Don't forget to subscribe for more architectural explorations and hit the bell icon to stay updated!
_CREDITS_
Video co-produced and edited by Evan Montgomery.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound
Columbus Fire Department: www.columbus.in.gov/fire/
Exhibit Columbus: www.exhibitcolumbus.org/
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_About the Channel_
Architecture with Stewart is a KZhead journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.
_About Me_
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.
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University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture: arch.uic.edu/
#architecture #urbandesign
Paying the architechtural fee as long as a real architect is hired? Isn't that the best thing I've ever heard in promoting good architecture? Can we have more of that thing, please?
It's resulted in an really amazing place.
Don't you just love when rich people use their money to enrich the community around them?
Seems kind of dystopian in a 1950s kind of way. Almost like putting a fee on thinking for yourself. There are two sides to every coin...
It is wonderful when cities invest in great public architecture, but what would the citizens want to do with those funds if they were given the choice? It is not exactly the most democratic process.
Most people couldn't design a functional house if their life depended on it. It's a knowledge that has become forgotten, according to Christopher Alexander.
Being an FF/paramedic myself (just not in the US), I can only say how much we appreciate if and when architects can resist the urge to do "something special" with our stations. I know that they are often under a lot of pressure by the city to make it a set piece and to incorporate art and stuff - but when they can do that not only WHILE maintaining function, but rather BY maintaining function that is the best experience you're gonna get. "Design follows function" is my favourite architectural principle - I don't need a fancy entrance with an open staircase, if all that leads to is drafty and noisy rooms for resting on the top floor...
I wholeheartedly and aggressively agree with this statement. There are a hundred fire stations in Chicago and while none of them are perfect, the best are invariably the ones built from 1910-1940 to a common design. They are highly economical compared to the block-long fire palaces they have been building the last twenty years, and while they are barely adequate to squeeze in modern fire apparatus, they are the best for human-scale rooms. Having a dayroom the size of a home theater means that 8 guys share 1 TV, or you sit on a bench in the kitchen all day, or you set up your laptop on a card table in the coat room. Fire houses are far too important to entrust to architects. A courtyard? Please. Round towers? Money spent for nothing. Walking through the coat room to get to the firehouse? That’s the exact opposite of separating the cancer sources from the personnel. Both of these fire stations have distinctive exteriors, but the interior features are a shit show. The pole doesn’t lead to the apparatus floor? WTF is it for? Ugh.
O yeah that open mentality is being challenged in architecture because of the exact reason you mentioned. It’s tough because open-plan helps a building absorb changes over time as well as giving a sense of space. However one of my WORST experiences at archi-school was not being able to withdraw to a more intimate quieter space after hours (even for just half an hour). So I’m totally with you 😄
@@Dev1nci We had a brand new fire palace that sucked up the budget for 4 firehouses, and the day they moved in they found the partition walls between the day room, the lounge, the kitchen, and the comm tower were only 7 feet with a 10 foot ceiling. 4 TV’s constantly blaring at max volume within a 20’ radius. And they forbade the firemen from putting in spacers to complete the partition walls. “Open Plan” means nothing, it’s going to be a firehouse with the exact same layout for 100 years until they turn it into a library. Feh!
@@Mrhalligan39 That sound terrible man. Which firehouse is it? I'd like to look it up.
@@Dev1nci Engine 63 at 67th and Blackstone was the first of the series. There are about ten of them now, scattered around the city.
There’s a lot to be said for the “pleasure of the ordinary.” My kids have always said, mom, it takes so little to make you happy. Well, yes. I love things like post offices, banks and fire houses. Even the vernacular isn’t really simple.
Agree. Among other local delights, I like identifying local wildlife, esp birds, & watching the ones closely I see every day. There are other birdwatchers who travel the world & work towards sightings, trying to see as many species as they can, who thrive off the novelty. There's a great book of essays that shaped my ethics around this by Lyanda Lynn Haupt, "Rare Encounters With Ordinary Birds". Check your library; I think it's out of print. All her books are good but that one's special to me. We need all kinds of people, tho, & I'm glad we have homebodies plus novelty-seekers + undoubtably it's a spectrum so everyone in the range. & I hope we all get to discover what environments & pursuits fulfill us, which pleasures + treasures vibe with us. I am so glad other people are going all over the world & I have a world in my neighbourhood I'm perfectly thrilled to closely observe every day.
I completely agree, I believe there is a tendency to place too much value on the luxury, high-end, over-engineered things in life and not enough appreciation of what actually keeps our society functioning day-to-day. There needs to be more respect for the buildings and people like emergency services, post offices and refuse workers. Those are the people who actually run the world!
As a fire fighter and a fan of great architecture, I love this video.
It seems you are the target demographic! Hope I did both justice.
@@stewarthicksthis is the uglyest fireststion i have ever seen
I was surprized how small the apparatus bay was in number 4. But you said it was built in the 1960s? but engines were a lot smaller then, when I retired the engine was close to twice the size of the one when I started.
Ironically something that is leading to a lot of new fire station builds here in Queensland. “We can’t fit our new truck in the old station”
10:08 I suggest a small shift in perspective. Instead of "the needs of the broader range of people joining the profession," Torre is saying that the building should not be a barrier to joining the profession.
I like that.
I simplified Torre’s statement, and her original statement is even more compelling. Her statement was written in Spanish, and Stewart Hicks faithfully quoted the official English translation. Some of the meaning is lost, however, when translating to English and when the reader is not expecting sweeping, academic declarations. In Spanish, _“…cambiar la organización y jerarquía de los espacios para que las mujeres los puedan ocupar como agentes sociales…”_ _organización y jerarquía_ translates to “organization and hierarchy” _puedan_ means “can” or “may” _ocupar_ translates to “inhabit” or “occupy”. In Spanish, the connotation is more profound. _Ocupar_ is sometimes a passive state and sometimes an action performed on the world. As in English, it means to be in a building, a profession (occupation), or to take up time. But in Spanish, it also means to be in charge of, to be the employer of, to seize, to use, and to be responsible for. _sociales_ translates to “social”. But, in Spanish, the connection between society and social and “the public” and social is inescapable. In the US, we might describe a “social agent” as a public servant. In another part of her statement, she makes it clear that she wants the building to allow women to fulfill their duties to society. She is absolutely not saying that society must change architecture because of a duty to women. In the context, I might interpret her statement this way: … change how we construct/use publicly-owned buildings so that women may (because, in part, artificial hierarchies no longer restrain them) be effective and responsible public servants…
Thanks for the comment. Your interpretation really gives the architect’s statements more fullness and impact. While “occupy” and “occupation” mean the same thing in English, they would not necessarily be interpreted as such in this context.
If you are interested, you should check out Station 18 of Dallas (TX) Fire - Rescue. The station was build on a street that goes by at an angle. So when they designed the station, they staggered the bays, so as the trucks come out they can have clearer sight lines.
You cant even use the word BUILT correctly.....You just have to be a fireidiot...or a lover of one eh ?
I never even knew about the hose tower, never even thought about them drying off the hoses, but it's such an obvious problem now you mention it and such a simple solution. I really like this video as well, it's interesting seeing the comparison between them. Have you considered doing another video comparing the remaining stations there? Possibly in particular Fire Station 1? They're so smaller than some other structures in scale and scope of use (ie hospitals are a lot bigger and more complex to understand) so it's really interesting being able to see some of the details there.
33 year's experience of living in fire stations authorizes me to say for the cursory introduction it is, good job. The first station a fine example of the type of station I hated to work at and the second, that I loved.
Simple minds...like simple things eh ?
My local fire station is in the same building as the public library, which I always thought was funny, but it's a good community building, it's often used as a polling place also.
That seems like a bad combo for noise!
A city near me has the fire station next door to the library, sharing a parking lot. Every so often you hear them heading out on a call but it's usually fine.
That's super interesting. My original hometown also had the fire department merged with the library. To my surprise, young me who hung out there never heard a peep from next door.
@@stewarthicks this is pretty common to save on land costs, my school shares its property with the fire station, luckily there is a large field between the two which helps a lot with noise (and the station faces away from the school)
Despite common beliefs, *public* libraries are no longer "Shush!" places where you can't have a normal-volume conversation. Academic and special collection libraries may be a different story.
Previous to this video, my only interest in fire stations came from my intense desire to slide down the fire pole when I was a little kid. (Why didn't they let me do that?!?) I love the thought that went into the designs of these two fire stations. They are beautifully fit for their purpose, without being at all flashy or "architectural." Columbus, Indiana, is one of the best place in the US for "mid-century Modern" architecture. My sister was friends with Clementine Miller Tangeman, who was the Cummins Oil heiress and an architectural philanthropist, and I met her once, a few years before her death. All the members of her family helped fund the building of so many Modernist masterpieces in Columbus, including buildings by both Eliel and Eero Saarinen.
The place is like a strange utopia or something. It's very cool.
i can hazard a guess why they wouldn't let a kid go down the fire pole, if your grip slipped that would be a lot nastier a fall then any playground equivalent (2-3 stories compared to 8-10 feet)
Even firefighters get killed by the fire pole
The hise tower is a very interesting concept. The company I work for owns some firehoses and we hang them in a stairwell to dry between uses, so it really makes sense that a purpose-built structure would be incorporated where multiple hoses are used daily.
Are there any fire-stations that do not have a tower!? That seems like a big problem.
@@ABaumstumpfSome keep at least a modest supply of clean replacement hose, and haul dirty hose to wash and clean at nearby station that has tower, and bigger hose cache. Remember station and department are not synonyms. Others have one of a couple manufactured hose drying rack. Once upon a time rubber lined hose was literally rubber-lined. The rubber had a significant amount of sulfur in it. Don’t drain extremely well, and the water would slowly turn acidic. Hose towers are very efficient use of square footage. Also a source of injuries.
@@ABaumstumpf sure there are, especially modern stations which have a hose cleaning machine which also dries the hoses right away ...
Does the hose tower not come with winches? I genuinely would have thought you just push a button to lower a hook and another one to raise it again. At least for the daily use. (Or, hell, rope and pullies, at least.)
@@JasperJanssen Everyone I’ve ever used worked like this. Most hose is nominal 50’ per length. In reality always supplied at 52’ from manufacturer. Pulled towards tower from middle of hose. Hose grabbed in middle wrapped twice with rope, and through a hook, so a loop maybe 2’ above hose is created. Oops. Two or three lengths of hose, against each other. Then rope runs over a single pulley maybe 5’ above a series of horizontal pipes maybe 4’ long, welded into a bracket on one side of tower, so they protrude towards the other side, and end in open space. Another FF has climbed a permanent vertical ladder, like you might see on side of a building to access roof, to a platform made of grating. Platform has railing at just above waist height. FF on ground pulls hose up using rope, and holds. FF at top puts loop over one of the open ends of pipe, yells ‘slack’, releases hook, then sends rope with hook end back to ground. While FF’s on ground attach next set, the FF at the top might rearrange the hose a little. Repeat. When hose dry days or a week later, hose can be lowered with rope system, or what really happens is FF at top lifts lengths, lowers carefully by hand until brass (the couplings, really an aluminum alloy) is safely on the concrete, and drops the length. FF’s on the ground pull it out to be rolled. At hose test season you might hoist a couple engines’ hose at one time. It’s not that hard. And they’re all FF’s.
We've not been hanging synthetic hose to dry for a few years. It gets cleaned, and either rolled or reloaded. We've noticed no problems loading or storing it wet - it's designed for that.
I guess back then natural fiber just rotted away.
Our newest fire station opened a year ago and after working with a couple architects (one who specialized in fire stations) we quickly realized their value. Our main architect said that it was one of the most complicated yet small buildings that he had worked on due to the amount of complex systems and requirements. I would love to start a channel examining this niche of fire station design, both historic and current.
A video on how air force bases work would be cool.
Whoa great idea!!! I'm so into that.
@@stewarthicks temporary infrastructure like FEMA response camps might be interesting too
Good luck getting on base to film.
@@brianm7287 surprisingly easy actually if you aren't planning on filming anything too sensitive. I used to live near yokota ab and all you need is a person willing to sign off on you getting in. Permission to film is pretty easy as long as you state what your filming beforehand. I'm in the navy now, and the bases I've been on would love to let you film as long as you aren't filming the classified shit
I'm born/raised in Columbus Indiana, and still currently live here; I nearly jumped out of my seat when I recognized the station at the beginning! This was amazing, thank you for making a video on it!
same!
Yeah....These idiots still have the old ones.....Uncontrolled Change Disturbs Brain Cells......
Very cool! I went to H.S. In Columbus Indiana. I took all of the architectural drawing and design classes available at the time. The city has many amazing buildings. I later became a firefighter/paramedic so I’ve spent my fair share of time in fire houses. I didn’t tour the fire houses there when I was a resident, so I really enjoyed seeing this. Thanks Stewart!
More nerdy stuff about emergency response and civil infrastructure, let’s goooo 👍🏼
In Poland it’s very common for the community centre to be at the fire station. So all local clubs convene there, constituency meetings happen there and usually you can even rent the hall for a moderate fee to throw a party for some occasion.
lol had no idea columbus had high class fire stations. awesome video! also had no idea about hose drying towers...
It’s an amazing place!
When I was in Architecture school at UM in the late 80s, a fire station was one of my project assignments. Thanks for this!
I’ve previously wondered, for building with very specific functions (hospitals, fire stations, police stations, etc.) if there were a small number of architects and companies who specialized in a specific kind of building. It’s interesting (and not what expected to find) that this isn’t (entirely) the case. I know that in IT, for any project, there are requirements and requirement gathering sessions… and routinely requirements are missed… now I’m wondering if the people for whom hospitals (and other such buildings) are built do a better job of understanding their requirements than people who ask for software…
There is a fire station in my hometown that I know was designed by Ward Whitwam who did some great stuff in the Midwest. Now you got me excited to see if I could get a tour of it 😊
There are only two fire stations I would recognize just by looking at them: Columbus Fire Station 4 and the Reedy Creek fire department in Florida. I visited Columbus about a year ago and it was so neat.
*MERGING medicine and fire-fighting is weird.* Not done almost anywhere in the world. This is because most calls are not enough fires at all, it is about medical emergencies, so two are rarely work together.
How about the New York ghost busting station?
I was impressed by the rear access door to the apparatus/truck bay. Most firefighters are obligated to BACK their trucks in -- a really challenging feat. Venturi's design eliminates the problem. Nicely done! Hey, could you show us other examples of excellent "ordinary" architecture? Do you know of a truly great post office, for example? An excellent town hall?
Yes, it is very convenient. But backing emergency vehicles is one of the most basic skills for the people who are allowed to drive them. Not everyone is necessarily allowed to drive every vehicle at their station, and some states (such as Pennsylvania) have had for decades specific emergency vehicle operator courses that were mandatory if your particular job included driving the vehicle. If you touch cones that simulate obstacles there is a penalty, and if you knock over the cones there is a much greater penalty. Having operated emergency vehicles for a while prior to coming to PA, I was able to pass the course on my first "practice run" but for people without similar experience it might require a non-trivial amount of practice. Interestingly, NJ did not require a similar course, which is odd given how much NJ loves to regulate absolutely everything. Next, most fire trucks, rescue vehicles, large ambulances (called "medium duty" but absolutely huge compared to the van ambulances), etc. are "straight trucks" where they have fixed axle(s) in the rear, the one steer axle in the front, and no articulations in the body. Where I have been, it has been quite some time since I had seen a fire truck with a "tiller" - where there is a second driver in the back and the truck articulates in the middle. All the other vehicles back up just like a normal vehicle, only bigger. Yes, precisely moving something that big takes some time behind the wheel. However, for a "challenging feat" I would suggest backing a vehicle with a short trailer around obstacles, or double trailers if you wish to demonstrate truly exceptional backing skills. When you have a long power unit and a short trailer it takes extremely small and precise steering inputs, initially in the opposite direction of normal, to get the trailer where one wishes. Many people have driver license endorsements for double/ triple trailers, but the sole extent of my interest in backing up a double trailer combination vehicle is for coupling the trailers together.
Odd. It’s standard in every fire station I’ve seen in Queensland, Australia.
@@ironized Here in the states it is a pretty easy way to date a Fire Station. If it was built before the late 70s or early 80s they often (but not always) lack "pull thru" bays. Also if the lot size the department can get access to precludes a drive way around back and a good approach angle then they will often be missing. Our small department is struggling a bit as our stations were built in the 1980s and lack rear bay doors. When they where built, fire trucks on average where smaller than today. As we upgrade trucks the bays get tighter and tighter with less room behind the trucks. Unfortunately the lots they sit on don't have enough space or a compatible layout with adding them even if we were to do a major remodel so we just have to make sure to deploy a ground guide before backing the Type 1 Engines back into the bays.
Interesting take on a firehouse Design. Being in the service for decades, being part of a few firehouses being constructed, and traveling around the country working with departments on accreditation we seem to lose sight of some simple ideas. Firehouses first and foremost are about responding to our community needs. Instead of courtyards for whatever, maybe we need to design firehouses that no matter where you are in the facility it takes seconds to get to the apparatus to respond. Maybe think of the apparatus bay as the courtyard. The reality is we need living, sleeping, and fitness areas but those areas need to be immediately adjacent to the apparatus. I typically see living quarters on one side and apparatus bays on the other and the bigger the station it takes forever to get from the living areas to the apparatus adding to our overall response time. The fastest station we had was two stories and a pole that went right to the apparatus. Conventional wisdom currently frowns upon poles but once again any design that slows our ability our apparatus quickly is flawed thinking in my humble opinion.
well stations tend to be may more than that these days. Looking at the largest station in my state: main building up front, with anything from sleeping / dining / living / gym for crews on shift to administration offices, integrated command center, SCBA training parcours and lecture rooms. In the adjacent buildings there are further apparatus halls with special operations equipment and spare apparatus, equipment storage facilities, hose cleaning and equipment maintenance facilities, apparatus repair shop, training facilities, sports ground, parking lot for the crews and the backyars also serves as helicopter landing zone ... It's one MASSIVE station, and although the living quarters are right above the primary apparatus in the main hall, the crews might be just about anywhere all across the station when the alarm goes off.
As much as I like good public architecture, this reminds me of a certain big box store that has a sign that says it gives back 5% to the community. The cashier laughed hysterically when I pointed at the sign and asked if she was part of the community.
I'll never forget riding an elevator in Atlanta where one guy raged, "They put the fire trucks on the 1st floor and the offices on the 3rd! That's guhvmint planning for you!" I was puzzled. Why would having the trucks above street level be smart? I've never seen a flying fire truck.
There's so much to be covered, we primarily focused on speed and privacy, while our station is in the center of a large residential area with several people walking by, the first floor of the station is administrative offices, so no one that looks through the window can see into bedrooms. This presented a challenge of making the second floor easily and swiftly accessible because you want you fire trucks to be accessible within 20 seconds of the call to ensure a swift departure to an emergency scene.
I be looking forward to every other Thursday bc I know some quality new Stewart Hicks is about to drop. Shoutout the architecture KZhead goat
Thank you Architects for understanding that Firemen are very much all about their history and when a new building comes we love it if you can incorporate some of the old features from their previous building.
Nice to see you made it to the “Athens of the Prairie”. I spent 30+ years on the township department that borders station 4’s East side. Did fill-in there a few times when the city had all hands on working structure fires.
with that stache you look right at home in the firestation
That's been my goal all along.
Thank you for this awesome vid! Was wondering if you could talk to us about whether or not there is a formal "post architectural" process? That is, after a building has been built and inhabited for a few years, is there some kind of analysis and "lessons learned" process to discover how suitable it ended up being to the design goals? I know municipalities often analyze their buildings after completion, but do the architectural firms themselves do this to pass along gained knowledge within their own organization?
From what I can tell, absolutely not. Architecture is yet another field that makes all sorts of claims that could be easily be verified, but they never are. For example in this video the architect of station 4 claimed that the design makes it easy to appreciate from a fast moving vehicle, yet no work was ever done to verify those claims (I think any sort of survey would have shown that few if any people noticed it, and when they did they thought it was an eyesore). I would love to see a video on evidence-based architecture, and we desperately need it practiced in the field. However. It’s unlikely to happen since the architect has no desire to be corrected and the client doesn’t want to know that they’ve made a mistake.
Way different than older cities like NY. In FDNY we had common bunkroom for all, no privacy, (like military). Turnout was fast and a group effort hitting the brass poles. Older firehouses had circular stairs so horses could not go up them. Back then kitchen was on top floor. No drive-through houses, all rigs back in. On older firehouses apparatus door would be called a mousehole because they were built when steamers were used pulled by horses. New rigs barley squeak in.
Seperate to the archtecture. Fire stations in NZ (not sure if amercian ones are the same) in the event of a Turnout event (emergency) they have cool things that turn on. All the building lights will automatically turn on. The kitchen power will turn off. When the first fire fighter is present and hits the door button to open doors it also turns on the fan system that is also connected to the trucks and when that fire truck reaches the door the exhaust will unlatch so they can carry on driving out. Fire stations are actually fucking awesome.
Our previous apartment had a similar overall outer shape of the #4 floor plan. Loved it!
Fascinating video! So many quesions! Curious about no 4, that angle at the bay doors. Was it on purpose so the trucks could turn in with more ease? and the facade (fasade? fascade? the front lol) I wonder what it looks like at 40mph, in a foreshortended sense. If Venturi planned for that kind of incredible detail, if it looks even more unremarkable. I'll be thinking about this one all weekend, keep up the great work!
"Façade," with the cedilla-C that tells you it is pronounced that way.
As someone who loves Indiana artichecure, THANK YOU for coming to Columbus!!! I hope you do more videos there!
Always cool seeing other station designs.
What a great vlog. I learned so much. Have you done fire stations in Chicago already?? Would also be very interesting. Thanks so much for sharing.
Fire stations are right up there with train stations as some of my favorite architecture
My local fire station is starting refurbishment, it was built in 1960s, and I have always liked looking at fire stations as a kid, I still do as an adult.
Love that you included one of the more famous firehouses up in Chicago!
Good thing they have that workout room - I can see they are in top physical condition.
I liked the video a lot and I love seeing this functional small buildings in an architectural way. But I must say that diagonal you put at 6:16 I mean that's what usually happen when you connect the opposing corners in a square. "the way things line up" i didnt see any line up at all maybe it is but it wasn't well showed. I ony made this commment because i wanted to see what you mean but i only see a square made up from the depth and width of the building and a line that cross diagonally.
Great video (Columbus is awesome). If you're ever in Davenport, check out the Central Fire Station. It has a contemporary addition and a restoration of the oldest active fire station west of the Mississippi.
You should do a story about Berkeley California fire station number 4
Columbus Indiana has so many gems. I used to live very close to station number 5
@2:20 Fahrenheit 451! 🔥😂
That passed through my mind too.😀
i freaking LOVE your content and you even more keep up the awsome work and unique content !
You should compare it to Peter Eisenman's fire station in Brooklyn!
In my city a lot of stations just look like normal houses. You can only tell the apartment by it stating it's a fire station, has a wider garaged and it's usually near intersections for quick access.
Never seen a hose tower at a station before. Interesting!
We're literally doing a firehouse in college right now, amazing timing
Very cool. Things I didn't know that I wanted to know more about!
Some of the older houses in Chicago had fire watch towers. It would be interesting to see if you could draw a line from the 1850’s to the present.
@@norlockv I don't have a pencil long enough for that.
@@kevincgrabb that was meant for Stuart.
Not an architect, but I would totally have swapped out the design of those white bricks to make them into a cross, and then put in a diagonal facade from the left side to the top to turn it a giant 4.
What function do the 2 black horizontal bricks on the front white facade provide
Form is a function, and part of being functional is having a well thought out form
Columbus, IN - Cummins country. I was born not too far away in Washington, IN in Daviess county. I used to work for Cummins. Been to Columbus a couple of times.
I really like these types of videos where the architecture of civic and public buildings like in this case the fire station is explored however It would be great, to know how modern fire stations are designed, especially considering the increase in technology and communication infrastructure when compared to the building designed in the 60s & even the 80s, how the space is utilised and how the design has progressed from say the fire station number 5. Also these types of videos help build a sense of transparency as it allows normal people to see and understand how the civic and public institutions function.
Also one of my community's fire stations has family quarters and a dwelling unit on the premises, which seems like another good approach as the fire service needs to be on call 24/7
I like the shot of the station on the SW corner of Abercorn at Oglethorpe.
Just nitpicking here but while they did show some trucks, the apparatus shown at station 4 was an engine (not a truck). I'm not sure how similar stations are in Columbus, but I've never been at one with a hose tower (usually it's a rack that zig zags down to accommodate a 50 foot section of hose (and numerous sections side by side), but functionality, convenience, and comfort are important in any fire station design.
Buffalo NY has some beautiful fire houses that are still in service, I’d recommend that you take a look.
This is the content I live for. THATS why they all have random towers!
I absolutely love this building
Well....and we didn´t learn a thing about how those stations actually work, or should work. How important the seperation of the apparatus bay, Bunkergear locker, and living quarters is. How important it is to have quick access to the apparatus bay from any point of the station. How important a good kitchen and living room is. And so on....
Mr. Hicks, I think you just gave me a new obsession. Is there somewhere I can download your floorplans, for scientific purposes? I would like to have one of Station Five.
Once again I am asking for an episode on MEP engineers :)
Damn, I was just in Columbus last week too for work. Must have missed seeing those.
Great video and great examples of fire stations!
Interesting to see an example of a smaller firestation in the USA ... this one look kinda weird/vamped? to me. I have seen mostly two story firestations and the offices and dormitory are mostly above the equipment storage situated and they are included into the community, not so hard separated from other plots.
Definitely visit your local fire station. A lot of them have a lot of cool older equipment if they have the space and they love visitors!
I remember living in Columbus IN, quite nice
Have a look at the gorgeous streamline moderne fire station in downtown Redding, California.
I'm a fireman and I appreciate your love for this old firehouse design. As a older fireman I love being in my old firehouse. However I'm not a fan of these new bank of america firehouses. Good video
I wonder what, if any, limits there are in building a 2nd floor to #4 to the living quarters? (connected to the tower of course, so that those on the 2nd floor can utilize the fireman's... uhh... firefighter person's pole? Which obviously would have to be added since it's currently lacking) And to keep things symmetrical, the apparus bay would have it's front raised in a similar facade manner that the current living quarters has.
Poles are no longer used in most fire stations because they are a fall hazard.
hey whats 1:57 1:58 from ? swear ive seen that before somewhere
Are the water hoses hanging on a wire for easy refill inside a new thing? As a kid I don't remember seeing them
Not new at all.
I couldn't hear over the music
In folklore, the pole is a very prominent feaature of a fire station. In reality, is it really important? r is it more important in downtown stations that are more cramped with higher ceilings and narrower buiding? Has "function" changed so much over the years that old fire station designs are no longer functional and need to be rebuilt? (fire engine size no longer fits garage, not enough space for new equipment etc) ? Recently found out during a local fire that scuba tanks used by the firement here (Island of Montreal) are filled centrally in a couple of fire hourses and distributed to all of them (and during an actual fire, they will send a truck over with large supply of the tanks). In smaller towns, I assume each fire house would need the compressors to refill their own tanks?
I think you're right. The one in station 5 seemed more ceremonial than anything else. I can see it being important in a station taller than two stories though. Like the one in Ghostbusters.
Most departments are moving away from poles because the modest time savings are outweighed by the risk of injury.
At this point it's unlikely we'll see stations being built taller than two stories again - poles are considered so much of a fall risk that many stations have covered them up or removed them. It really throws a wrench in things when one of the firefighters breaks or sprains their ankle responding to a call before they even get on the engine.
Yes, smaller towns often have an air compression system in each fire station - or the only fire station.
I felt like this building was fliping me off the entire video
😂
It was getting dark, and we weren’t there yet.
Great job ❤ Im a firefighter and im sharing my missions 🚒
Thank You!
Why is the rear wall of station 4 slanted?
Not sure about the community relations of the building. While it is a public building it is not for frequent visits or regular community exchanges. At least it is not used as such in most places. It is not a plaza or library. Still some volunteer stations are multi use but most stations for 'professional' firefighting are not. Small volunteer department do see frequent community meeting with other local clubs or community activities or even use them for other city purpose. Mostly firestation are used for Training vehicle and gear storage and having sleeping spaces for firefighters on shift.
Schools frequently have field trips to fire stations for young kids, and any parent/babysitter walking by with a child can usually ask for and receive a tour on the spot. In some cities, there's also a bathroom that members of the public may be allowed to use.
Thank you. This was interesting.
This fire station is cute…my favourite is station 24 in Seattle. Brutalist beauty!
very small indeed. Living in a village of 10k inhabitants our volunteer FD has 10 units at its station
I'm sorry but what exactly does line up at 6:14 ?
He is referring to subtractive architecture. It is a design process. In this example a portion of a square was removed.
@@barryrobbins7694 He says "the way things line up when you connect 2 corners of the square", while drawing a line where literally nothing lines up
@@Jsjsjjssjs Imagine the building footprint as a square. Then cut off a corner. The intersecting lines are where the cut off corner used to be. It is more interesting in more complex buildings with more complex shapes.
@@barryrobbins7694 Again, he's joining up the other 2 corners, not the removed part.
@@Jsjsjjssjs Good catch. I think it was just a misedit. He was likely trying to show the geometric relationships and the subtractive architecture.
a HOSE TOWER?! That's a new one for me lol. We just stretch it between the trucks lol
how do thry dry like that?
@@EnjoyFirefighting always dry fine. Been doing it for years.
guess you have different hose layouts then, ours wouldn't dry like that; At least in the past. Modern or updated stations have entire hose treatment machines which clean and dry them right away, thus the hos tower isn't needed any more @@ep-ou7sc
It’s a very old design, not use these days.
I was disapointed you didn't mention that off square angle, like was there a purpose to it? why the garage door was made wider than it needed to accomdate that trapesoidal shape...
In Europe we have started to build something called black and White Rooms! Black is car and Gear Cleaning Space White Rooms are all rooms like kitchen and Housing rooms you can to say pre respond is white post response is black!
You should see the octagonal fire station in Arlington Massachusetts
A building where even a little ornamentation would enhance it's apperance 100 fold.
There is ornamentation. He referred to some of it as Easter eggs. The glazing...
"low maintenance"
The white bricks are the ornamentation. I think in this case they could have let the red brick speak for itself.
This is so cool!!!
Oh I'd find it so cool if you could talk about psychiatric hospital architecture, its such an interesting topic.
Harder to get tours of those
In the UK almost every firestation has a practice area with a fire drill tower, is that not a thing in the US?
Fire stations are made up of two different teams. The engine company and the ladder company. The engine company crew works on the pumper truck which is the fire truck that pumps the water from the fire hydrant to the fire. The ladder company works on the fire truck that carries the ladders.
This is the first time I've ever seen a hose tower on a fire station. Very cool, but most of the time you just snake it along the ground
Now as you drive around this or that town you’ll see them everywhere. Not uncommon in small towns with one story buildings facing Main St to see the hose tower on the next parallel street, even if you never see the rest of the station.
As someone who's very familiar with the fire stations in our area, there are none in my area.@@billsmith5109
More common in the Northeast where there is risk of freezing. It's an older method for older hoses that has become less necessary.
@@Vazzini42 Except I'm from the Northeast. Now, maybe some fire houses I've not been in have them, but they aren't in a noticeable place. But most fire houses in this area I'd say are single story.