St. Joseph Fire Station No. 9

The City of St. Joseph, Missouri, selected WSKF Architects to lead a team for two new stations—No. 9 and No. 11—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. 9 provides bunk space for four, dayroom/dining and kitchen, fitness room, separate locker room, training room and administrative space. Both Station No. 9 and No. 11 also feature a new dedicated heated exercise room with 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 two large rooftop solar arrays that provide 20 percent of the station’s power needs. The station sits in a sloped median area between two well-traveled streets, requiring careful site planning to address safe apparatus ingress/egress on two apron areas as well as driver sight lines to approaching traffic. Stations No. 9 and No. 11 continue a look and feel and materials 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.