Public Safety Design Across Municipalities

By Adrienne Lewis

Municipalities provide spaces and services for the safety, security, and wellbeing of the public. At Dekker, we support that mission with intentionally designed buildings that are rooted in a sense of place.

We start every project by understanding the unique safety and community needs. Then, we address those needs with unique design solutions that fit the project's goals, budget and timeline.

New Mexico state department of public safety forensic lab

Our public safety design ethos

We take a human centered, problem focused approach to public safety design. This approach requires us to balance public safety concerns with universal design principles and occupant wellbeing.

We take into account the needs of many different users within the space, whether it be staff, the general public, or visitors. When creating our design, we embed safety and peace of mind into the architecture, rather than designing overt and imposing displays of safety.

Our team's expertise in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design means that each design considers the surveillance, access, and territoriality of a space. The result is safer and more secure spaces for the public and the those that serve the public

Designing for different municipalities

Safety means something different for every location, and building. Each project has its own safety concerns and requires different — and sometimes innovative — solutions.

We incorporate our approach into public safety designs across municipalities by understanding the unique needs of the public and the agencies that serve the public.

Sometimes, an outsider designer's assumption about what would best serve a space is incorrect. That's why we take an active role in engaging the community to build trust and get community buy-in, so we can ensure that the community and building's unique needs are being met in the design.

As the project progresses, we continue our relationship with the municipality and its public by ensuring that we use project budgets effectively, and addressing any concerns that may arise.

Public safety buildings serve and protect the public. That mission is central to our design. Below are just some of our recent public safety projects.

City of Albuquerque — Fire Stations

Fire stations 2 and 7 are a new prototypical design that we developed so that the City of Albuquerque could save design and construction costs for future fire stations. We collaborated with local partners to ensure that the site and design of the new fire stations provided faster response times.

The design includes a public entry lobby and meeting room to provide space for community gatherings. Critically, access can be quickly limited to these public-facing spaces during a fire event, giving firefighters the space to safely and quickly respond to events. Fire apparatus is separated from crew vehicles and public traffic. A third bay was added to the design to anticipate the future expansion of service.

State of New Mexico — State Forensic Laboratory

This new state forensic laboratory increases the capacity for work of 50 staff and brings the facility up to date with modern quality of life needs. We collaborated with Crime Lab Design to create designs for highly specialized forensic spaces.

The layout of the building is designed around a centralized pick-up and drop-off space for the efficient processing and storing of evidence. Separate staff and visitor entrances, as well as a dedicated contributor entrance ensures controlled access to high security areas and preserves the chain of custody.

Wellbeing also factored highly into the design. Access to natural light is increased while still limiting public visibility into the building. Staff amenities include a training room for staff, indoor and outdoor break areas, and spaces for collaboration.

Lubbock County — Medical Examiner's Office

The staff of the Lubbock County Medical Examiner's Office work hard to provide essential services to their community. With the new Medical Examiner's Office design, we wanted to make sure we were designing a space that would contribute to staff wellbeing as well as serve the local community for years to come.

To design a space that would serve the needs of those who use it every day, we turned to the existing Medical Examiner's Office staff to ask them what they wanted to see. Together with the existing staff, we toured a facility comparable to the desired end goal to gain insight on what the staff would like to see for their own office.