ISTUDIO and planning partner FGMA envision the Public Safety Training Academy of the future with this master plan for DC Fire, EMS, and Police. The plan provides a roadmap for the future growth of the agencies with state-of-the-art sustainability and resiliency measures to create a world class campus in the nation’s capital. When complete, the campus will serve the mission to train first responders – all while managing its own stormwater and generating its own energy with a zero-carbon footprint.

The multi-phase master plan was developed around two shared campuses: an Upper Campus with classrooms, fitness, and admin surrounding a Parade Ground; and a Lower Campus for technical training that includes K9, Tactical Training, Firing Range, Fire Training Ground, and fully functioning Apparatus Bay for DCFD Battalion 8.

The design team took a four-pronged approach to reducing embodied carbon on the site. With industry metrics pointing to 30-40% carbon reduction, LC3 concrete construction is proposed for the on-site parking garages. (LC3, or calcined clay, is a cutting-edge substitute for clinker, a carbon-intensive key component within concrete.) Mass timber building structures and terra cotta rainscreen façade systems on the Upper Campus combined with the reuse of existing buildings significantly lower the project’s overall carbon footprint.

These measures not only reduce embodied carbon, but also work in tandem with design strategies such as photovoltaic panels and hyper-efficient envelope design to reduce and optimize operational carbon. Buildings are designed to go beyond the LEED v.4 baseline and to achieve the Mayor’s goals for resilience, net zero energy, and carbon net neutrality.