H2M has been recognized by Firehouse Magazine’s Station Design Awards for its design of the Lehighton Fire Department, earning a Volunteer/Combination Notable.
The project, which was completed in April, took two separate firehouses on the same street and combined them into one cohesive facility through a 18,000-square-foot infill addition. The overall design never interrupted the operation of the facilities, and resulted in a two-story addition with five new apparatus bays, as well as bunker gear and apparatus support spaces. Staff amenities in the newly-designed structure include new meeting and training rooms, offices, a dispatch office, a dayroom and kitchen, and locker rooms. New egress stairwells, ramps and an ADA-compliant elevator also included within the new infill addition.
The project team consisted of Senior Project Architect Renee Marcus, Project Architect Robert Bee, Staff Architect Patrick Stone, and Senior Structural Project Engineer Scott Lehn. Paying careful consideration to the existing buildings’ aesthetics, which dated back to 1910 and 1930, the team was able to match the infill’s finish to the existing structures through a blend of brick and fieldstone materials. They were also challenged with varying elevations between the two existing structures, which they overcame by directly connecting the infill to one of the existing buildings, and manipulated floor levels to match the exterior street levels.
