Fire Station in Italy by Pedevilla Architects

Richard Wilbur’s ode to a fire truck – ‘Beautiful, heavy, unweary, loud, obvious thing!’ – dwells on the mind-cleansing properties of the machine’s unambiguous redness, a colour associated with fire stations just as much as their contents. But although in this instance it has run from the doors to colour the entire building, it has a subtlety quite unlike the usual scarlet; the tinted concrete structure sits in this Tyrolean community like a bloodstain in the snow. The engine shed occupies the ground floor and is accessed via maroon doors. Above it is a hall for the fire fighters lined with light wood, giving a more domestic feel. The two parts are joined by a spiral stair that rises from the porch into the space above.

Read the Fire Stations typology here