Public Safety

Is there any building more instantly recognizable? The ideal church may have a spire but worship is more likely to take place in light industrial units these days; the gleaming red garage doors of the fire station, on the other hand, are unlikely ever to be superseded. Accommodation for the crew, and often a tower – initially for fire spotting, latterly for drying hoses and training – round out the essential elements. These have provided designers with the opportunity for willy-nilly historicising – those garage doors cry out for rusticated arches. And while the fire station is one building in which utility must always take precedence over aesthetics, it has continued to be the site of formal experiment