Creating a Home Away From Home for Firefighters

The vision for Lake City Fire Station No. 2 was to be a “home away from home” for the firefighters. Working 72 hour shifts, firefighters are away from their home and families for long stretches, and the rescues they perform are mentally, physically, and emotionally taxing. The city’s top priority was to provide comfort and familiarity for them in a place of respite and recharge.

Firefighters have distinct requirements and protocols when they answer and come back from all calls. Walker Architects and the design team listened and learned the process in and out in order to ensure that the firefighters would be well supported and all protocols would be simple to carry out. The late Fire Chief Randy Burnham wanted this building to set an example of excellence for the Lake City community. Dedicated in his name, Fire Station No. 2 will provide the home away from home he envisioned for years to come.

James W. Norman Hall has been known for decades as the nexus of the University of Florida's College of Education. It was designed and built in 1934 as a K-12 school, named for civic leader P.K. Yonge. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989, the building held the potential to be a gem of historic architecture on UF's campus. 

But building modifications over time buried distinctive architectural elements and the accumulation of critical repairs and maintenance seriously strained college resources. By the turn of the 21st century, Norman Hall no longer met the myriad needs of the students, faculty, and administrative staff who are learning, teaching and working throughout the building. 

The Past Informs Present-Day Design

Our design team was charged with rehabilitating historic Norman Hall to support 21st-century learning technologies while preserving the Hall's "collegiate Gothic" character. To give the facility a new life, we took cues from photographs of building interiors from the 1950s. We discovered that the main West entrance had been intended as a gathering place, but offices and storage rooms had encroached upon space and obstructed traffic flow. We began by prioritizing changes that would alter or remove interior structures to let in natural light, facilitate movement and create gathering spaces.