Project Overview

The project is located at the intersection of Biyadi Road and Zhongxin Road in Pingshan District, Shenzhen.

On its east side is the Court of Pingshan District; on the southwest side is the Wanyuefu residential community; on the north side, it faces Dawan Cultural Plaza across Biyadi Road. The site is surrounded by many high-rise buildings, creating a strong sense of oppression.

The project is a grade-1 fire station with a gross floor area of 5,016 sqm. The floor area above ground is 3,998 sqm, accommodating a three-storey main building and a seven-storey training tower. The basement covers a floor area of 1,017.90m2. The project has a plot ratio of 0.94. It is a typical centralized fire station located in the highly populated main city and surrounded by high-rise buildings.

Project Commissioner

Public Works Bureau of Pingshan District

Project Creator

THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTURE DESIGN & RESEARCH.SHENZHEN UNIVERSITY

Team

Zhong Zhong, Zhong Botao, Bai Yixin, Zhong Haihuan, Jiang Yunxiang, Meng Meili, Wei Xianqiong, Li He, Hou Jian, Wang Hongyue, Guo Hao, Liu Zhongping, Wang Weifang, Liu Mu, Tang Jin

Project Brief

In contrast to traditional fire station design that creates an inner courtyard-style route for fire engines, this project allows fire engines to leave the fire station via an exit nearby the street, greatly improving emergency response efficiency.

Public participation is encouraged. The project breaks the military camp-like solemn image of conventional fire stations but instead creates a community-style architectural form which features a sense of affinity. Areas open to visitors are mainly arranged on 1F and the mezzanine garage. Visitors are allowed to visit the garage through the corridor on the mezzanine without affecting the daily training and work of firefighters.

The project is designed according to the research results of the “2014 Shenzhen Fire Station Standardization Design Workshop”. The experience of this project will be utilized to establish construction standards for fire stations in Shenzhen so as to satisfy the need for building more fire stations and provide a reference for fire station construction in China.

The design needs to satisfy the basic functions of a fire station, such as instant response to emergency and duty calls, training, living and leisure activities, and to consider future professional development of firefighters, openness and fire protection education to the public. The standardized design & construction requirements and green buildings construction (one-star) shall be complied.

Project Innovation/Need

The fire station is surrounded by high-rise buildings on the south, west and east sides, which creates a strong sense of oppression. To relieve this feeling, the north part of the fire station is placed next to the main road to leave more area on the south side to create a “breathing space”.

The main entrance and exit are set at the north corner of the site, through which firefighters and visitors enter the fire station. The major areas open to the public are set on 1F and 2F. The fire engine garage faces Biyadi Road. The entrance hall, canteen and air bottle refilling rooms are arranged on 1F. Firefighter duty rooms, leader duty rooms and office are organized on 2F, with bathrooms and shower rooms in the northeast corner. Operation rooms and auxiliary rooms are set on 3F.

The basement is mainly used as emergency rescue apparatus storerooms and equipment rooms, and its entrance is at the south corner of the building. Besides, multiple resting platforms are arranged in the building to enrich the life of firefighters.

Design Challenge

1. Layout: The fire station is surrounded by high-rise buildings on three sides which are highly populated and generate an oppressive feeling.

2. Site: The limited plot area posed the biggest challenge in working out a reasonable configuration of spaces on the irregular site.

3. Setback line: Due to the surrounding conditions, the south and west sides are required to set back for 2.3m and 2.2m, respectively, bringing a challenge to the reasonable organization of the fire station and sports field on the limited land.

4. Departure: The fire engine garage directly faces an urban main road nearby, which greatly enhances fire response efficiency but may impede municipal transportation at the same time. Solving this paradox is a big challenge.

5. Circulation route: The areas open to the public are on 1F and 2F. The connecting corridor in the mezzanine forms the visiting route, thus avoiding interference with firefighter’s daily training and work.

Sustainability

1. Architectural design: The buildings are compact and simple, with reasonable shape coefficients. The window-to-wall ratio and the area of curtain walls and external windows fulfil relevant regulations and requirements. The buildings are designed with shading structures on the facades.
2. Green design: Indigenous plants that adapt to the local climate and soil conditions are selected. Arbours and shrubs are combined for vertical greening. Roof greening is also created in a reasonable way.
3. Water supply and drainage design: The water supply and drainage system is energy-efficient, environment-friendly, reasonably set and sophisticated, which allows for the reuse and recycling of water resources and reduces the wastage of internal water. According to the concept of "sponge city", the project adopts a low-impact development mode for the design of a comprehensive rainwater utilization system.
4. Electrical design: A transformer with low energy consumption and low noise is installed. The centralized capacitive compensation screen power factor on the low-voltage distribution screen busbar of the substation is not less than 0.9. Energy-saving LED lamps are selected for lighting. Besides, road lamps and solar lawn lamps that can fit into the environment are installed. All these can reduce the energy consumption of landscape lighting.
5. Air conditioning design: The intelligent control system can keep the air conditioning and refrigeration system running at optimal load and high efficiency all the time to increase the energy efficiency of the central air-conditioning system and save its energy consumption and operating cost.

Architecture - Public and Institutional - International

This award celebrates the design process and product of planning, designing and constructing form, space and ambience that reflect functional, technical, social, and aesthetic considerations. Consideration given for material selection, technology, light and shadow. 
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