10.28.09 | New York, NY | RKT&B Architecture and Urban Design announces completion of Engine Company 201 on Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park Brooklyn. The new firehouse is one of the first to be completed as part of the City of New York’s Department of Design and Construction’s Design Excellence Program. RKT&B’s work with the Fire Department of New York helps redefine the general design standard for new firehouses in the city.

“We are extremely proud to have been partners with the Fire Department and the DDC in such an extraordinary example of collaboration for the benefit of the community of Sunset Park,” said Carmi Bee, President of RKT&B “We are equally excited at the notion of this collaborative effort being a touchstone for future thinking on firehouse design and efficiency in New York City, and by example, the rest of the nation."

The importance the firehouse plays in the life of the community is expressed through the glass apparatus doors at ground level, visually connecting the firefighters with the neighborhood they serve. It is the first firehouse in the city to be built with glass doors. Other symbolic design elements include the iconic Maltese Cross, which is embossed on glass and expressed as an illuminated “light box” on the third floor facade and the use of brightly glazed red brick throughout. A pre-existing ground floor memorial dedicated to fallen heroes has also been preserved and incorporated into the interior.

The new design gives the highest priorities to apparatus floor function, response time and operational efficiency of the shared spaces on the ground floor. The second floor contains offices, bunkrooms, toilets, lockers and storage facilities with quick horizontal and vertical circulation allowing access to the front and rear of the apparatus trucks on the ground floor. The third floor is devoted to the private spaces of the firefighters and includes a dormitory bunkroom, study facilities and locker rooms.

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ABOUT RKT&B

Rothzeid Kaiserman Thomson and Bee is a leading architectural and planning firm in New York City. The firm has been designing firehouses, multi-family housing, schools, health-care facilities theaters, office buildings, and transportation facilities since 1963. Project types range from new construction to historic preservation and adaptive reuse. As evidenced by the receipt of over thirty awards, the firm has been widely recognized for its work and is considered an innovator in their field. 
www.rktb.com