St. Joseph Fire Station No. 11

The City of St. Joseph, Missouri, selected WSKF Architects to lead a team for two new stations, No. 11 and No. 9, to be designed and built simultaneously. Both are replacement stations at new locations in this historic community with a population of 76,000. The City’s intent was for both stations to be adapted from WSKF’s earlier design for Station No. 12. Station No. 11 provides bunk space for six, dayroom/dining and kitchen, fitness room, separate locker room, training room, and administrative space. Both Station No. 11 and No. 9 also feature a new dedicated heated exercise room with a stationary bicycle that is part of the department’s post-event decontamination protocols. The station layout provides paths of travel that support those protocols and efficient turnout. Another innovation is the integration of a large rooftop solar array that provides 20 percent of the station’s power needs. The station sits on a well-traveled street and directly adjacent to a highway exit, requiring careful site planning to address safe apparatus ingress/egress as well as driver sight lines to approaching traffic. Stations No. 11 and No. 9 continue the look, feel, and material selections established in 2011 with Station No. 12 to further expand a common station design motif that is fitting for a department whose history dates to 1865.