Fire Station 20 - Interbay

Fire Station 20 creates a civic presence in the Interbay neighborhood and serves as a model of sustainable design. The station was moved to its current location to improve response coverage and reduce gaps in service. It was designed on the premise of maximizing efficiencies within the building while minimizing deployment time during emergency response.Given the highly visible site, the city of Seattle identified the project as an opportunity to create a strong civic presence for the Fire Department while setting a new high-performance design standard for its facilities.Fire Station 20 houses one engine company with space to accommodate a future EMS vehicle. Acoustically isolated bunks are located on the first floor to minimize response time. The beanery (kitchen / dining room), dayroom, and physical training rooms are located on the second floor to maximize access to daylight and views. The station utilizes durable materials such as polished concrete floors and heavy duty hardware to withstand the demands of heavy use and for ease of maintenance.The design team took an aggressive approach to achieve LEED Platinum status. Heating and cooling is provided by a ground source water-to-water heat pump system. The 35-kilowatt photovoltaic array on the roof provides 27 percent of the energy used by the station. LED fixtures, occupancy sensors and daylight harvesting further increase the energy savings. Bio-retention planters and green roofs contain plants, soil and gravel which manage stormwater, cool the site, and integrate the masonry building walls with the hillside retaining walls. Native, drought-tolerant plants are used to buffer the station from the street, and require very little water once established.The Energy Use Index (EUI) shows a 70% energy savings over a typical fire station. Through an ambitious sustainable design agenda, the project achieved 98 points and LEED platinum status, making it the highest-scoring fire station in the country in 2015. The station is open for community tours, utilizing signage to explain the station's sustainable systems and through a low-energy flip-dot sign connected to the building's control system that displays information on energy, water, and carbon savings.

Owner

• Department of Finance and Administrative Services

Design Team

• Schacht Aslani Architects
• Swenson Say Faget
• Coughlin Porter Lundeen
• Hargis Engineers Inc.
• Travis Fitzmaurice & Associates
• Nakano Associates
• O'Brien & Company
• TetraTech
• Wetherholt and Associates
• GEO Design Inc.
• FORMA Construction

Artist

• Rob Ley, Urbana Studio

Visit the Fire Station 20 page for further information.