The concept for my design was originally a burning
farmhouse, this led to the original formation of the program distribution.
However, the idea of fire is a semi-physical and spiritual concept with many
things to learn from. The fire inside is what drives humans to move forward.
The beauty of fire is that, much like water, when you combine two flames
together they become one. When you gather many people together, as is the case
when you have a collection of EMS and FDNY members, a great fire emerges (not
just body heat). During the summer, it is imaginable to see a group of people
surrounding a bon fire that dances up to the sky; moving with the wind,
smoothly dancing as embers fly away and fade into the night.
How do you hold fire, how can you keep it contained?
In ancient times, the Greeks and Romans used fire urns that they used to light
temples and cities at night. These urns were of varying sizes, there were
Olympian scaled urns that would burn for a week straight. And then there were
smaller urns that were more personal.
I wanted to incorporate the urn into the building. It
would not be suitable in the city context to have an urn shaped building. So it
was decided that the urn would be the negative space through the lower half of
the building, and the dancing flame is the communal area above it. This is
where the EMS or FDNY members could dance or play and recuperate from a shift
before they run out again.
Flames need fuel, humans need fuel. Air or oxygen is
essential for fires to survive. Thus the roof is only a bare container with the
sides open to air. Much like a chimney, smoke will travel upward, the energy
used will travel out. It needs to leave. The negative and tired energy of
members needs a place to exit. This is where the kitchen, the food and fuel
source of the members exists.
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