DESCRIPTION:

This one-story EMS station, located in Manvel, Texas, provided necessary expansion for the growing emergency services district in Brazoria County. The facility includes a 4-door apparatus bay for emergency service vehicles, in addition to office space, dormitories, workout facilities and a training room. The apparatus bay walls are rated for 1-hour fire protection and clad with masonry for durability as vehicles (and the bay itself) are washed-down on a regular basis. The single slope, popped-up roof at the apparatus bay creates a clerestory condition bringing natural light into the center of the building.

CHALLENGES:

The change in roof elevation from the apparatus bay to the surrounding portions of the building made it necessary to locate the lateral-resistance bracing along the high/low demarcation line along the perimeter of the large bay. Tube steel braces were used along these walls, in order to allow the braces to fit in-line with the 6” interior stud wall and prevent the need for a double-stud wall. This helped the architect by not absorbing more of the usable square footage of the building. Man-doors in one location necessitated the use of an eccentric tube brace in tandem with a properly proportioned wide-flange beam at the low roof level.

CONSTRUCTION TYPE:

Structural steel was the primary structural material used on the project. Miscellaneous steel angle frames were employed at the perimeter of the building to carry the widened roof eaves which reached over 3 feet in some cases. Light-gage load-bearing structure was used at the mechanical mezzanines, to avoid the cost of conventional steel framing for a relatively small elevated floor. The foundation consists of cast-in-place concrete grade beams and drilled and under-reamed piers. A thickened slab was constructed at the apparatus bay to accommodate the higher axle loads associated with the emergency vehicles.