Designed by IDOM practice, the new fire station nº4 has been completed in the Casetas neighborhood, the most populated of the fourteen rural neighborhoods owned by the city of Zaragoza, in Spain.

The 1,245m² building is made up of three volumes of different heights and in the shape of a tower, which allows different uses depending on their typology. The project occupies a non-dominant position in a depressed area destined for neighborhood facilities.

This project is proposed to operate 24 hours a day in emergencies that may occur in area 4, which includes various neighborhoods and municipalities in the surroundings.
Idom designs the new building following distribution of spaces and dimensioning of uses that respond to functional criteria and conditions in which the operations of the Fire Brigade and the requirements of the Salvage Fire Protection and Civil Protection establish certain guidelines.

This new equipment is developed mainly on the ground floor, and in the upper and roof floors, there are small rooms for facilities and a warehouse that configure a tower that tops the set as an iconic and integrating element of the communications antenna.
 

Description of project by IDOM

Fire Station No. 4, Avda de Zaragoza in the Casetas neighborhood, is located on a publicly owned plot next to the Casetas municipal swimming pools, in a well-connected area, which allows speedy emergency exits.

The site in which the designed building is located has a rectangular geometry, 70 meters wide by an average of 115 longitudinal meters. Its total area is 8,000 m².

On the site, an L-shaped building with a total area of 1,245 m² has been built, of which 523 correspond to the vehicle garage, and 722 m² are for office use and living quarters.

The plot is located at the western end of the Casetas urban neighborhood in Zaragoza and has a depression of approximately 1 meter below the grade of the main access road. It occupies a non-dominant position, in a depressed area destined for neighborhood amenities. The building responds to this circumstance with a towering height volume. The Tower is crowned with a telecommunications antenna that guarantees the efficiency and independence of the emergency service.

Working 24 hours a day, this facility will attend emergency situations that may occur in area 4, which includes the neighborhoods of Casetas, Garrapinillos, Monzalbarba, and Alfocea, as well as the surrounding municipalities, Utebo, Torres de Berrellén or Sobradiel, among others.

The Needs Program required service spaces, bedrooms, toilets and changing rooms, which were related to the main spaces intended for the administrative management of the station, materials storage, and the storage and parking of emergency vehicles. This program was complemented by a gym and a dining room that had to be located on the ground floor, as well as an outdoor space for parking and the circulation of heavy vehicles, which allowed the correct access and exit of emergency vehicles. An overhead telecommunications antenna and emergency generator along with the facility’s specific installations completed the needs program.

The Building is made up of three volumes of different heights, which allow different uses depending on their typology. Each one has different accesses for pedestrians or vehicles and they are interconnected through the courtyard and the Tower staircase.

Volumetrically, the building can be explained as a plinth that gathers all the circulations and services, on which two volumes rest. The volume of the Tower and the volume of the garage that manages emergency vehicles.

Most of the building is developed on the ground floor, where the different spaces integrated into an impression of unity. The materials of the facade harmonize the whole, creating a volumetric game in which the different uses are combined.

The distribution of spaces and dimensioning of uses responds to functional criteria and conditions in which the operations of the Fire Brigade and the requirements of the Fire Rescue and Civil Protection Service draw an orderly plan around a central space that provides natural light and ventilation. This central area is made up of a courtyard and a gymnasium that materialize in a continuous space that acts as the real lung of the building.

This new amenity is developed mainly on the ground floor, housing the different living quarters, changing rooms, communication center, bedrooms, gym, etc. On the upper floors and the roof, there are small rooms for installations and a warehouse that configure a tower and which completes the complex as an iconic element that integrates the communications antenna.

The Tower houses all the infrastructures and installations of the center, so that the rest of the building's roof is free of any type of installation, being conceived as the fifth façade of the project.

The Garage as a container for vehicles joins the service spaces and other uses through a courtyard that articulates and orders the building. It opens onto the maneuvering yard, in connection with the Avenida de Zaragoza roundabout, from which there is quick access to the Casetas neighborhood and the adjacent industrial areas.

The Courtyard is located in a central position, on the ground floor and acts as an articulating piece, a space that allows us to understand the operation of the building as a whole. Circulation spaces develop around the courtyard, constantly causing the relationship between infrastructure spaces, service spaces, and vehicle parking bays, with emergency vehicles appearing as the backdrop for gym activities and administrative rooms and control.

 

 

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Architects
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IDOM. Antonio Lorén Collado, Jose Ángel Ruiz González.
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Project team
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Principal in charge, Concept Architect, Site supervisor.- Antonio Lorén Collado. Concept Architect.- José Angel Ruiz Gonzalez.
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Collaborators
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Other architects.- Nuria Montero García, Alejandro López Pèrez. Project Management.- Antonio Lorén Collado, Rubén Pérez de Marcos, Jesús Gil Finestra, Alejandro Arnedo. Structures.- Alberto Ayensa, Javier Bentué. Environmental Engineering.- Jorge Guillén Ferrer. Lighting.- Fernando Catalan Herreros. Public Health Services.- Jorge Guillén Ferrer. Electrical Engineering.- Fernando Catalan Herreros. Telecommunications.- Diana López Martínez. Fire Strategy.- Diego Abril. Acoustics.- Raimundo Bambó Naya. Sustainability.- Jorge Guillén Ferrer. CAD.- Sergio Cubero Belenguer. Site Supervision.- María Pilar Hernando, Antonio Lorén Collado, José Angel Ruiz Gonzalez. Project Execution Management.- Ana Villacampa. Construction Management.- José Angel Ruiz Gonzalez.
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Client
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Builder
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MLN Mariano López Navarro.
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Area
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1,245 m².
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Dates
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Project.- Dec/2009 - Oct/2010, June/2016 - July/2016.
Construction.- May/2017 - Sept/2018.
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Location
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Zaragoza Avenue. Casetas district, Zaragoza, Spain.
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Photography
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Antonio Lorén Collado is an architect by the ETSA University of Navarra. He has been working at IDOM since 1998, and is Head of the Architecture Department in Aragon. He teaches Integration II and Projects II at the School of Architecture of the University of San Jorge.

Among his most outstanding recent projects are the Aulario Building at the University of San Jorge, the IQE Water Treatment Building and Infrastructure, the Refurbishment and Adaptation of the Bridge Pavilion for the headquarters of Mobility City, the new Marianist school in San Sebastian, the Fire Station No. 4 in Casetas, in Zaragoza or the General Services Building of the University of San Jorge.

His works have been recognised by the Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de España CSCAE, La Institución Fernando El Católico, El Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Aragón COAA, la Bienal Española de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Endesa Energía, ENOR; and selected in the Arquia Próxima Programme and in the 6th European Landscape Biennial.
 
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Jose Ángel Ruiz González. Senior architect (1995-2004) from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of La Coruña, Spain. Where he completed the Final Degree Project "Collective Residential and Social Center in Feans (La Coruña)".

He obtained the title of Project Manager Professional PMP in 2016 at the Project Management Institute.

Jose Ángel Ruiz González works for the IDOM company. He has developed in different positions as Project Director and Project Development.
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