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October 20, 2016
EMS Station 50 in Jamaica, Queens Named Gold Medal Recipient of The American Architecture Prize
Contact:
Ian Michaels
Executive Director of Public Information
718-391-1589
Long Island City, NY – Commissioner Feniosky Peña-Mora of the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced today that the new Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Station 50 in Jamaica, Queens has been named a 2016 Gold Medal Recipient of The American Architecture Prize.
Design and construction of the station was managed by DDC for the Fire Department (FDNY). DDC’s architectural consultant for the project was Dean/Wolf Architects, located on Hudson Street in Manhattan.
The American Architecture Prize’s mission is to “advance the appreciation of quality architectural design worldwide,” and it considers projects from around the globe in the areas of architectural design, interior design, and landscape architecture. This year’s awards recipients include buildings and structures from China to Australia to Iceland. EMS Station 50 received its Gold Medal in the category of Institutional Architecture.
“This prestigious award demonstrates DDC’s commitment to delivering superior public structures for the residents of New York and our client agencies, “ said Commissioner Peña-Mora. “This is an environmentally friendly and highly resilient building that will help the FDNY serve Queens for years to come, and we’re very proud to have been recognized with an American Architecture Prize Gold Medal.”
“With FDNY members responding to more than 1.7 million calls per year, the Department is committed to investments in our members, infrastructure, and resources so they can continue to deliver critical pre-hospital emergency care to New Yorkers,” said FDNY Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro. “EMS Station 50 not only safeguards communities in Queens, it also moves our vision for innovation in emergency services and sustainability forward.”
Located at 159-49 Goethals Avenue on the campus of New York City Health + Hospitals/Queens, the unique, cantilevered building can house six ambulances and one Major Emergency Response Vehicle (MERV). The 13,000 square-foot, $22 million facility is the largest EMS station in Queens and the home of Queens EMS Borough Command.
EMS 50’s steel superstructure is anchored in a concrete foundation. The taut glass and aluminum exterior surfaces of the building are designed to impart a modern appearance, while the custom concrete walls emulate the tilt of the building and interact with the flashing lights of emergency vehicles. The building’s cantilevered design protects underground utilities that serve the adjacent hospital, while the signature red overhead garage doors instantly identify that the building is part of FDNY.
The building includes locker rooms, a kitchen area, and a fitness center for FDNY personnel. EMS Station 50 will run 30 Basic and Advanced Life Support ambulance tours daily, as well as six conditions cars operated by FDNY EMS Officers.
EMS Station 50 was designed by Dean/Wolf Architects under DDC’s Design and Construction Excellence 2.0 program, which pre-selects and pre-qualifies design firms that DDC works with on projects with construction budgets of up to $50 million. The program is designed to decrease the amount of time required for DDC to procure design services, while ensuring the highest levels of quality and professionalism in construction projects managed by the agency.
All firms in the program are committed to incorporating DDC’s Design and Construction Excellence 2.0 Guiding Principles into their work. DDC’s Guiding Principles are a series of non-prescriptive guidelines designed to ensure that public projects are designed and built to the highest standards that comply with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vision of a sustainable, resilient, equitable, and healthy City. DDC recently announced the next group of design and architecture firms that will participate in the program up to 2019.
DDC has several other projects ongoing with the FDNY, including renovating the famous Ladder 8 firehouse in Manhattan and constructing a new home for Rescue Company 2 in Brooklyn.
More photos of EMS Station 50 can be found here, courtesy of NYC DDC.
About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor de Blasio’s lenses of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, new or upgraded roadways, sewers, water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $15 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative, and environmentally-conscious design and construction strategies to city projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.