Strength and Fragility
by Jonathan McGaha | June 2, 2013 12:00 am
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City police, fire, utility workers and other first responders in Carlsbad, Calif., and the surrounding communities have a new Safety Training Center to provide important emergency training. In the past, police and fire personnel had to travel to other parts of the region and state to complete the necessary training. Designed by RRM Design Group, San Clemente, Calif., the $16.5 million facility is located on a 4-acre site and provides a wide variety of realistic training scenarios with a five-story commercial-style tower, a two-story “house,” two indoor shooting ranges, a streetscape and classroom space.
The 45,501-square-foot main building features divisible training classrooms for up to 100 people. With its movable walls and mock elevator doors, the commercial tower can be used to simulate a hotel, apartment building or a live-work space. Police will also use the tower for tactical training. The house has a backyard with fence, garage and cul-de-sac-like entrance, which allows emergency crews to train for fires, police calls and other emergencies. Natural gas-fed burners provide real flames, while smoke machines emit an environmentally safe smoke. Meanwhile, the streetscape allows police officers to re-enact actual events that have occurred in the field. Designed not only for target practice, the two shooting ranges-one 100 yards long and the other 25 yards long-have computer-activated moving props so officers can work through tactical situations, similar to those they face in the field. The facility also includes a training feature of underground pipes, similar to actual storm drains, where police, fire and utilities personnel can practice underground rescues.
Contrasting Themes
With its industrial design, the designers chose a selection of durable materials, including a variety of metal types, colors and textures. The main building features a monochromatic palette of materials, such as concrete block, steel beams, cast-in place concrete, along with various other materials and plastic panels. According to Michael S. Hutaff, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, project manager at RRM Design Group, the concept that drove the project design was strength and fragility. That concept, along with the image of a
’70s protester placing a flower inside the barrel of a police officer’s gun, guided the architect’s decision-making process.
“The contrast of something strong and bold with something delicate helped to guide all of our decision making regarding materials and massing for the buildings,” Hutaff explains. “As a training facility, the room sizes and relationship of spaces to one another was critical, so the form of the building was shaped by the function of what was going on inside. As the floor plans of the building were being developed, considerable attention was paid to placing certain program elements on top of each other to create the massing of the building and allow us to use a variety of finished materials on the exterior. The result of all of these decisions is a state-of-the-art training facility that embraces its modern and simple lines.”
The goal was to use a variety of materials that appeared heavy, solid and emitted strength, which would symbolize the police and fire fighters that train at the facility, he adds. “Coupled with that was the desire to use lighter materials that appeared to be held or carried by the building. These materials represented the fragile nature of the public that these men and women were training to protect.”
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The Policeman’s Shield
Serving as the project’s primary architectural feature, a series of perforated metal screens from Hendricks Manufacturing, Carbondale, Pa., act like a policeman’s shield to protect the various parts of the building from the sun and elements. Making up more than 2,400 square feet of surface area, the screens shield the building’s south façade from the mid-day sun. Most striking is a 40-foot-tall angled element at the site’s main entry that covers the two floors of the classroom and training building. “The policeman’s shield serves to protect the officer, and thus we wanted to have a screen element protect the building from its southern exposure,” explains Hutaff. “The use of these large shading devices will help keep the building cool in the warm summer months. It is at these screen areas that we introduced the use of perforated metal panels to keep the screen light and allow for a sense of transparency depending upon the angle at which they are viewed.”
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Flower Fields
The city of Carlsbad is known for its famous flower fields that line the city’s low lying hills along the freeway, and the designers wanted the building’s design to honor those iconic flower fields. To do that, the designers used colored glass fins from Innovative Structural Glass Inc., Three Rivers, Calif., that line the entire length of the second floor hallway of the administration building. “The colors were pulled directly from the four most common seen in the flower fields and arranged in alternating patterns to create visual interest,” describes Hutaff. “In the afternoon sun, the light shines through the fins and casts a pattern on the interior floors and walls that mimics the flower fields.”
The second floor section that features the glass fins is clad in a solid phenolic panel system from Trespa North America Ltd., New York City, that was chosen for its ability to stand the direct UV light and last the life span of the building. The solid white panels surrounding the colored glass fins help them stand out and pop against the building’s monochromatic metal and masonry materials. Hutaff adds that the use of color in this area was intended to highlight it as a feature in the building, while emphasizing its importance as a concept for the city.
Defining Elements
To distinguish the various volumes of the building’s massing, 1,200 square feet of flat lock zinc panels from RHEINZINK America Inc., Woburn, Mass., and 3,700 square feet of Concept Series aluminum ribbed panels from CENTRIA, Moon Township, Pa., were used. The weathered blue-grey zinc panels wrap around the primary staircase and elevator core at the entry to the two-story training building, while the silver ribbed panels enclose the building’s two service cores.
As Hutaff explains, knowing that they were using a monochromatic palette of materials, it was important that the materials provided different types of texture and reflectivity. “The zinc chosen for the main staircase at the front of the building has a pre-weathered and grainy type feel to it, while the aluminum ribbed metal is smooth and polished to reflect the sun,” he says. “Using two distinct metals also allowed for the different massing elements of the building to stand on their own and provide visual interest along the elevation.”
In addition to the exterior metal finishes, particular attention was paid to exposing the steel structure inside of the building, which called for steel beams and metal decking to be visible within the various training rooms. “Exposing the structure further emphasizes our strength concept, as it shows all of the people who interact with the building exactly what it is that is supporting all of the various wall and roof elements,” says Hutaff.
Designed to achieve LEED Silver certification, the project has a low-impact site design that captures all training water run-off and re-uses it for irrigation purposes. Additionally, a high percentage of the steel and concrete masonry members used recycled content. Within the building, the various rooms are zone-controlled and have motion sensors that help reduce the building’s energy demand. The indoor shooting range has a three-part HEPA filtration system that scrubs and cleans the area so the air exhausting from the building is cleaner than the outdoor air.
Completed in May 2012, the project took just over five years from the awarding of contract to the grand opening ceremony. Despite the long time frame, Hutaff says the city fully embraced the design and helped navigate the various planning approvals and building division reviews.
[All photos courtesy of Michelle C. Torres-Grant Photography]
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