Tag Archives: Public Safety Architects

New Facilities Planning Seminar Scheduled for March 7-8, 2013 in Orlando, Florida

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New Facilities Planning Seminar Scheduled for March 2013 in Orlando, Florida

For more than a decade The Center for Public Safety, Inc. in association with Architects Design Group has been hosting a bi-annual seminar titled; “Planning, Funding and Obtaining New Public Safety Facilities”.

This seminar is designed to help a governmental entity planning a new or renovated facility within the next few years to become more educated about the steps of the process from the identification of the need until the ribbon cutting to open the new facility.

Topics include involving staff, the RFP/RFQ process, selecting the design team, the stages of the project, project funding options, grants, construction delivery methods, emerging trends and security concerns among others.

This seminar is unique in that it is only available to current public sector employees or elected officials. To date more than 400 cities, towns, parishes, counties and public entities have sent at least one person to participate in this seminar.

The next opportunity to attend is March 7th and 8th in Orlando, Florida. In addition to the day and a half seminar, participants will have an opportunity to take a facility tour of a police department, fire station or emergency operations center. Lunch is provided the first day and that evening participants and their spouses can attend a catered reception where they can meet and interact with their peers and the seminar presenters.

For more information on or about the seminar, please visit http://www.centerforpublicsafety.org/ or contact CPS Executive Director Stockton Reeves via email at stocktonr@centerforpublicsafety.org or at 407-756-1237.

Architects Design Group Exhibiting at Florida Police Chiefs Association Conference

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For the 16th year in a row, Architects Design Group will be exhibiting at the Annual Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) Summer Conference which will be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is the 60th anniversary of the FPCA Summer Conference and the association anticipates more than 250 agency heads will attend this training conference and exposition.

Architects Design Group specializes in the design of Police stations and is committed to enhancing the Law Enforcement community’s ability to provide first class facilities to its citizens. We continually lecture, exhibit and sponsor events at conferences such as FPCA to ensure we remain on the cutting edge of emerging trends, technology and standards.

Come visit us at Booth #36 July 8th through the 10th at the Marriott Resort and Spa to learn more about the services we offer including spatial needs assessments, master planning, site selection, design, construction administration, and grant assistance.

Using Key Elements to Design Sustainable Structures

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Architects Design Group has made significant contributions to the application of sustainable architecture. There are several key elements of design that create exemplary projects:

Natural Lighting – The strategic use of natural lighting maximizes the energy efficiency of a facility and will reduce energy consumption costs. Natural lighting has a practical and psychological benefit by creating comfortable space for people to live and work.

Solar Orientation – The direction in which a building sits on a site directly affects its energy efficiency, environmental impact, and visual appeal. For the Florida Municipal Power Agency Headquarters, Architects Design Group oriented the building on an east/west axis to respond to the diurnal path of the sun to make optimal use of day lighting thus reducing artificial light costs. The east/west orientation assists in managing the impact of solar radiation heating the building volume.

Building Materials – Building materials such as recyclable steel, carpeting and low VOC adhesives; as well as a reflective roof finish, directly impact a building’s sustainability.

Use of Color – The visual power of color emphasizes the “tectonics” of the architecture and evokes emotional and physical response of the occupant.

Energy Efficient Equipment/Features -Two design issues, energy load reduction and equipment specifications, play key roles in the creation of an energy efficient building. Through design and prudent selection of active energy consuming systems such as HVAC and lighting, the design team can affect total building performance by reducing energy consumption, up to half of a typical facility. Interior lighting in office buildings tends to be the single largest element of energy consumption, accounting for about 30 percent of total energy costs, followed by cooling costs.

With the application of these principles, several of Architects Design Group’s projects have been recognized as exemplary examples of sustainable design: the Florida Solar Energy Center, Florida Municipal Power Agency, Orange County Landfill and Operations Facility, School District of Osceola County Transportation Center, and the new Sarasota Police Headquarters, which is the first Police facility in the state of Florida to be LEED® certified. Currently, Architects Design Group has five projects which are in the LEED® Certification process including the Gainesville Police Department Training Center, the Orange County Sheriff Sector II Building, the Greene County Public Safety Coordination Center, Charleston County EOC and 911 Call Center, and Deltona Fire Station No. 65.

Architects Design Group Designs Sanford Public Safety Complex

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Architects Design Group, national public safety architects headquartered in Winter Park, Florida recently attended the ribbon cutting for the $15.8 million, 76,000 square foot City of Sanford Public Safety Complex located in Sanford, Florida. The Public Safety Complex is located southwest of Sanford’s Historic Downtown near the Historic Goldsboro Community.

The Public Safety Complex, which joins Sanford’s Police and Fire Departments into a two-story state-of-the-art building, celebrated its grand opening last November in the new exterior Civic Plaza, situated at the prominent corner of the site. The plaza plays an important aspect of the project’s relationship to the surrounding historic neighborhood and provided the perfect setting for building’s dedication. Attendees included elected officials, the city’s Police and Fire chiefs and staff, ADG and design consultants, and the construction management team of Wharton Smith as well as many local residents.

ADG designed both departments as separate facilities that share a two story Atrium, which includes vertical circulation, lobby/reception, a Historic Apparatus Display, and Community Meeting Room that opens onto the Civic Plaza. The fully functioning Police Department will include all the necessary elements required for law enforcement; vehicle evidence processing, emergency services unit vehicle storage, evidence storage, records storage, interview rooms, and a drive through sally port, while the two-story Fire Department is comprised of a five-bay apparatus bay, crew quarters, and a training tower on the first floor and fire administration and emergency operations center on the second floor.

All critical functions of both the Police and Fire Department are contained within the exterior concrete tilt panel walls and hurricane impact glazing, which are designed to withstand 150 mph hurricane force winds. The Public Safety Facility is also designed with 100% backup to all mechanical and electrical systems to provide uninterrupted use of the facility during a catastrophic event.