The New Classroom Facility at the State Fire Academy

Pearl, Mississippi

The New Classroom Facility consists of a straightforward program of two standard classrooms and two tiered lecture halls, all with the most current technology capabilities and related supporting spaces. The program spaces are arranged efficiently around a double-loaded corridor, with exterior finishes responding to those of the nearby existing Administration Building. The designated site, bounded on two sides by the Administration Building and on two sides by campus vehicular circulation, informed a somewhat square plan that capitalized on views to the grassy campus eastward and harder, constricted views oriented north and west. A new outdoor courtyard is created in the interstitial space between the existing building and the new classroom facility. The deliberate orientation of the building mass and the free circulation around the building provides direct access to the training fields for firefighter trainees. A complexity of natural light and structural elements, continuing and intermingling rhythms established the exterior porches, mark the intersection of corridors, and result in the synthesis of a lively main lobby.

Construction Cost:  $1.8 Million
Completed 2012
Winner 2013 AIA Mississippi Honor Award