Resilient and Self-Sustaining Fire and Rescue Station   

Galveston Fire Station 4 is located on Galveston Island and serves as the primary fire and rescue support for island residences, the nearby international airport and Galveston Beach. The building is designed to withstand hurricanes and other extreme weather conditions, such as tidal surges and meets Texas windstorm requirements. It is protected by cast-in-place concrete, acrylic panels on extruded aluminium framing, metal panel enclosure and ipe decking.

Equipped with its own generator and communication system, the Fire | Beach House, is conceived as a self-contained unit capable of maintaining critical services in the face of a hurricane affecting the nearby airport or other parts of the city.

Having an airport address that is less than three blocks from the Gulf of Mexico allows for a beach house respite for the firefighters. The building itself can also readily transform from its relaxing, home-like atmosphere to a rescue command centre in the case of a hurricane or flood.

In the same way that pile dwellings are raised above the earth to protect the structure from storm and flood damage, the Fire | Beach House elevates the living quarters above the utility bays. The analogy is further explored in the iconic images of fire, aviation and beach rescue towers. Each represents a raised observation and living quarter above a more utilitarian and functional base. The apparatus bays act as a bypass for the potential rising waters to allow the living unit to survive a 20-foot storm surge.