New York City Fire Department, Rescue Company 3

This high performance, durable, logistically efficient, maintainable “machine” is the first new rescue company designed specifically to accommodate the special unit’s activities and the first constructed under the design excellence program of the New York City Department of Design and Construction.

The building’s aluminum façade and zinc-clad roof distinguish it as a commanding and secure civic structure, while its oversized FDNY-red apparatus doors reinforce the FDNY’s identity and welcoming presence in the community.

In its organization, the building is an analogue of the company’s Apparatus Rig – the most important piece of equipment in the house. All spaces in the building are strategically located in relation to the centrally-placed rig, but are stacked to accommodate the restricted site. 

Organized into “dirty” and “clean” functional spaces: tool storage, the design locates physical work areas and vehicles on the ground and basement levels, rest, study and dining on the second level; and training and fitness spaces on the mezzanine. The design is singularly responsive to quality of life issues in this 24/7 facility; the material quality explicitly identifies the environment as “home.”

Special infrastructure and equipment storage requirements respond to the elite company’s role in more specialized emergency situations such as building collapses, subway emergencies and scuba operations.