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Caserne 21
By : Cimaise
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 17th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Other categories in architecture / Concept & Unbuilt : Silver Certification
Station 21
The new fire station 21 of the Régie intermunicipale de service incendie de la Vallée-du-Richelieu (RISIVR) is located in Beloeil, a strategic location to serve more than six Montérégie municipalities, namely Beloeil, McMasterville, Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Otterburn Park, Saint-Basile-le-Grand and Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil.
The 2-storey, approximately 2,500-square-metre building includes an eight-door garage for response vehicles, a garage for a boat and trailer, two conference and training rooms, several storage spaces, living areas for firefighters, a gymnasium and a decontamination area. The exterior layout incorporates training areas for extrication as well as containers for flashover simulation and training.
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The architectural concept of the fire station is inspired by the landscape of the St. Lawrence lowlands.
The building emerges from the plain like the nearby mountains, and its massing expresses the formations of the Monteregian hills, magma infiltrated into the sedimentary rock that has been revealed by the passage of glaciers. True to its civil protection function and like a rock, the barracks stands reassuring watch over the town and its citizens, as do the surrounding mountains serenely.
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It’s worth noting that the terrain itself posed quite a challenge. It is a contaminated site (a former snow dump) that required a great deal of consideration. The soil capacity was insufficient, which meant that the building had to be constructed on piles and thick layers of insulation. The layout was also complex on a site with irregular geometry, which dictated the design of the plan and the building’s volumetry.
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The lead designer reviewed the functional and technical program that had been produced by the client in the previous year to ensure that the needs expressed were still relevant. He then proposed iterations of a layout that met the requirements and could be implemented on the site with all the particular traffic and operational imperatives inherent in the activities of a fire station.
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The program thus includes:
- Firefighters’ living area: individual bedrooms, generous kitchen, dining room, gymnasium and lounge (home cinema);
- 50-person training room, modular and accessible to the public;
- Vehicle garage (8 doors) with space for boat and trailer;
- Support areas: changing room with showers, lockers for combat clothing, laundry room, Apria and hose tower;
- Regie administration upstairs: several offices, meeting and rest rooms.
- Training areas integrated into the site for training: flashover simulator (specialized containers) and extrication.
Collaboration
