Texas Fire Chief - Spring/Summer 2009 - (Page 13)

Designing for Hurricanes in South Texas By Ray Holliday AIA, ASLA, LI Director, College Station Studio BRW Architects, Inc. ublic safety has always been a vital issue for architects. However, since the events of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and most recently Ike, our country has experienced a renewed appreciation for the fire/EMT services we so often take for granted. This extra awareness, along with increases in population and the need to upgrade and replace existing facilities, has fueled a surge in the design and construction for new public safety buildings, including fire stations, in Texas. BRW Architects has a state-wide reputation for being the best in fire-station design, and we call our attention to south Texas and the construction of these facilities, particularly in hurricane-prone areas. In the three years following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, BRW has been asked by coastal fire chiefs all over Texas to design new fire stations to resist hurricane winds. Originally, we were asked to create a fire-station design that was hurricane proof, which, in reality, is a little like asking to design a building that is completely fire proof. Buildings can be designed to resist a fire; likewise, buildings can be designed to resist a hurricane with only minimal damage. BRW currently has two stations in construction to resist category four hurricanes, as well as a number of stations in design. These stations are located in the cities of Victoria (#2 and #4), TEXAS FIRE CHIEF Spring/Summer 2009 P Baytown, Orange, Conroe, and the communities of Southeast Harris County and Fort Bend County. Along with fire stations, BRW focuses its work on municipal, county, state, and federal government projects, and we use these resources to further develop our understanding of designing for hurricane protection. We took our design experience of working in hurricane zones, particularly from working with the U.S. Postal Service, and applied it to fire-station design. BRW also teamed up with the Texas A&M University colleges of Engineering and Architecture to develop new methods and technologies concerned with materials that could resist the strong wind forces associated with the storms. We also adopted the Miami/Dade Code, which is the most stringent of all hurricane codes, and made it effective for all projects designed in hurricaneprone areas. BRW, along with the fi re chief and community leaders, determines what category of hurricane to resist based on historical data, proximity to the gulf coast, type of proposed structure, function of the proposed structure, and cost. As cost is always a major issue with any project, the challenge is to fi nd ways of effectively protecting the building without significantly increasing the budget. In the past, designing a building to resist hurricane winds has added as much as a 40% increase to the overall building cost, and some of these buildings still suffered major damage in the event of a hurricane. Our goal at BRW is to impact minimally the aesthetic function and cost of a building while transforming it into a structure that can resist hurricane winds. The City of Victoria station #4 is one example of our achieving these goals through research and 13

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Texas Fire Chief - Spring/Summer 2009

Texas Fire Chief - Spring/Summer 2009 Contents Executive Director's Report 2009 Annual Conference Preview Hurricane Resistant Fire Stations in South Texas Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System The IAFC and TV Worldwide Launch IAFC TV KITA and Firefighter Motivation TFCA Legislator Award What Do They See When They See You Coming? Texas Fire Chiefs Academy Standing Tall Lake Travis Fire Rescue Answers the Call 2009 TFCA Executive Board TFCA Region Map Index to Advertisers

Texas Fire Chief - Spring/Summer 2009

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