The small desert Town of Carefree, Arizona is known as an “artist’s community” and a new public building is a rare event. Carefree’s new Station No. 1 and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) designed by LEA Architect’s Lawrence Enyart, FAIA & Lance Enyart, AIA, was the first Fire Station in the Town of Carefree to meet the current and future emergency service response demands of the rapidly expanding community. The new fire station with a Community / Training Room / EOC exudes a sense of permanence and sustainability and is neighbor friendly. The natural materials introduce scale and texture to the building envelope. The simple forms of the recycled metal weathering roof emulate the surrounding mountains, relating to the scale and form of the neighboring residential / desert context. Multiple sustainable design strategies incorporate passive and active systems for natural day lighting, ventilation, and energy conservation. The triangular roof forms provide deep shading overhangs for the building to essentially shade itself much like a cactus. The use of natural materials of ground fly ash concrete, split face concrete masonry, perforated metal + the weathering steel roof was influenced by the historic icon sundial of downtown Carefree. The triangular small site of 0.20 acre demanded precision and a building that echoed the desert and tight site geometry. Carefree Fire Station No. 1 lies within the beauty of the Sonoran Desert among mountains and cacti. The station aesthetically relates to the natural surroundings; the triangular forms of the nearby park shade structures and sundial icon for the Town of Carefree indeed motivated the dynamic triangular shape of the new building. From the inception of the project, Design Architect & Principal Larry Enyart, FAIA established design goals of, minimizing response time, sustainability, and improving the quality of life for the Fire Department personnel. These goals were applied to every facet of the design, noise attenuation, evacuation of diesel exhaust fumes, environmental filtration systems, the building’s orientation, natural light penetration, air quality, and the selection of sustainable and energy saving materials. The design incorporates a pallet of sustainable, energy saving, and sound attenuation materials consisting of split face masonry (inside use provides thermal mass stability), added insulation for thermal and noise protection, insulated sound absorbing glass, exposed steel beams, special glazed metal bay doors, replenishment wood ceilings, and deep ribbed recycled mild weathering steel roofing. The south facing entry canopy with its triangular roof forms, supported by steel beams and shading perforated metal, introduce exciting elements to the project complementing the surrounding context. A mezzanine 2nd turn-out storage platform was created by the gently rising roof form, allowing north light to penetrate the bays via a large triangular shaped window.
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