Miramar College Fire/EMT Building
Project Location
San Diego, CA
Owner
San Diego Community College District
Architect
gkkworks
Market
Community College
Services
General Contracting
Region
Southern California
Swinerton Office Location
San Diego, California
Keywords
Design-Build, Education, Fast-Track Schedule
The Fire Technology/EMT Training Facility combines classroom and simulation training for fire-fighters and paramedics, including instructional in service support. The site is located on the north campus gateway adjacent to anew administrative building and transit center, providing an important marker for arrival to the campus. The facility was planned as a campus within the campus, providing a traditional classroom area and a large multi-purpose hall for large group presentations, locker and shower facilities for students and faculty, a ‘dirty classroom’ for field instruction, a turn out room for fire-fighter gear storage and an outdoor training area, called, “The Grinder”, for field simulations and training with apparatus and fire hoses. Connected to the Grinder will be a state-of-the-art command center where digital simulations are used to train for emergency response. In addition, a four story training tower and three-bay apparatus area provides for training operations with fire-fighting equipment. Specific training areas incorporated into the site include a 100’ x 200’ open tarmac for vehicle and apparatus maneuvering practice, crash vehicle site for extraction training, hose practice area with back-splash wall and water collection / recycle system, and a 4-story drill tower with internal stairs and platforms, exterior balcony, climbing wall, and adjacent rooftop training area.
Design of the facility incorporates outdoor places for group training, gathering and events. In addition the multi-purpose hall provides an overlook to the Grinder for observation of apparatus training. The multi-purpose room and student lounge have sliding glass doors allowing the rooms to extend into the exterior patio and landscape areas.