Marion Fire Station honored with international architecture award
The fire station has received its 12th award, an International Architecture Award from Chicago Athenaeum.
“If everybody could work in a place like this, they would be so happy. By being in a building where they feel calm and comfortable it helps with relationships as well as their everyday stresses.”
– Deb Krebill, retired fire chief, Marion Fire Department.
With the mission to advance the public education about the value of Good Design and the impact of design on the human environment, the Chicago Athenaeum is an International Museum of Architecture and Design. The Museum is dedicated to the Art of Design in all areas of the discipline: architecture, industrial and product design, graphics, landscape architecture, and urban planning. Submissions included commercial, corporate, institutional, or residential building types or urban planning projects, built or unbuilt worldwide.
The implementation of biophilic principles has a profound effect on the firefighters’ wellbeing, including stress reduction and increased awareness and cognitive ability. Challenged by the fire chief to design a station that would be a national benchmark for how biophilic design can reduce PTSD in firefighters, this two-level 21,000-square-foot fire station in a rapidly growing community does just that while reducing response time and establishing a strong, transparent civic presence.
The Marion fire station has also been recognized with numerous international awards, including: the 2024 FIERO Honor Award Health and Wellness Award, the 2023 Stephen R. Kellert Biophilic Design Award, first place in the Public Building (Built) category from in the 2023 Rethinking The Future Awards, the Government Building of the Year in the 2023 Archello Awards, and earned a Special Mention in the 2023 Architizer A+ Awards. It also received an Honor Award from the AIA Justice Facilities Review Award in 2023. It was the second fire station to win the award. The first was also designed by OPN Architects: Madison Fire Station No. 14 in 2020.
Other AIA local and regional chapter awards include: Excellence in Design, Honor Award, American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter (2021), Excellence in Design, Honor Award, American Institute of Architects, Central States Region (2022), Impact Award, Honor Award, American Institute of Architects, Iowa Chapter (2023).
The fire station was featured in the March 2023 Issue of “Architectural Record,” and has been published in “Contemporary Architecture: Masterpieces around the World” (Braun, 2022). It was also featured in the second edition of Terrapin Bright Green’s “The Economics of Biophilia” (2024).