Public Safety Answering Center II / SOM

Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Image 2 of 23Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Chair, TablePublic Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - FacadePublic Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - FacadePublic Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - More Images+ 18

  • Design Partner: Gary Haney
  • Managing Partner: Laura Ettelman, Peter Magill
  • Technical Partner: Carl Galioto
  • Interior Design Partner: Stephen Apking
  • Managing Director: Mark Regulinski
  • Technical Director: Nicholas Holt
  • Project Manager: Emily Mottolese, Mark Leininger, Joseph Sacco
  • Senior Design Architect: Rob Rothblatt
  • Senior Technical Coordinator: Carl Brown
  • Senior Technical Architect: Lesley Campbell, Ross Goldsworthy
  • Active Modular Phytoremediation Wall System (Amps): Center for Architecture Science & Ecology
  • Sustainability Consultant Landscape Architect Graphic Designer Lighting Designer: Vidaris
  • Security Design Consultant: Shen Milsom & Wilke
  • Code Consultant: Milrose Consultants
  • Cost Estimating Consultant: Ellana Inc
  • Kitchen Consultant: Hopkins Food Service
  • Graphic Designer: Lebowitz Gould Design, Vidaris
  • Blast Designer: Thornton Tomasetti
  • Client: New York City Department of Design and Construction
  • Senior Interior Designer: Cynthia Mirbach
  • City: Bronx
  • Country: United States
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Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Image 2 of 23
© Albert Vecerka

Text description provided by the architects. Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II), a new facility located in the Bronx, enhances New York City’s 911 emergency response system and sets a high standard to sustainability. The 450,000-square-foot building brings together emergency response workers from multiple city agencies—the Police Department, the Fire Department, and Emergency Medical Services—serving as a model for inter- agency cooperation.

Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Facade
© Albert Vecerka
Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Facade
© Albert Vecerka

As a back-up facility to the city’s primary call center, PSAC II introduces an important layer of redundancy to New York City’s 911 system. Continuously operating and highly secure, the building enhances the city’s ability to maintain communication in the event of a natural disaster or large-scale emergency. The project’s completion is a milestone in New York City’s overhaul of its 911 system, a long-term initiative begun by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.

Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Windows, Facade
© Albert Vecerka

PSAC II sits on a prominent nine-acre site at the intersection of Bronx and Pelham Parkway and Hutchinson River Parkway. With its design, SOM confronted the challenge of creating a secure and functional building that also makes a positive contribution to its urban context. Designed as a perfect cube, the structure has few windows due to security concerns. To mitigate the building’s potentially monolithic appearance, SOM developed a dynamic, serrated facade that includes recycled aluminum.

Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Chair
© Albert Vecerka
Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Image 18 of 23
© Albert Vecerka

The building is surrounded by a wrap-around sculptural berm of wild grasses. This berm serves as a barrier to protect the facility, and it also enriches the aesthetics of the site. From the Hutchinson River and Pelham Parkways, the berm hides the surface parking and loading dock from view; for the building’s occupants, it o ers a sense of connection to nature. The landscape requires no irrigation, which helps to achieve the project’s ambitious sustainability goal of LEED® Gold certification.

Public Safety Answering Center II  / SOM - Image 11 of 23
© Albert Vecerka

SOM gave special attention to creating a soothing environment for the emergency response teams working inside. The building’s main gathering space features an innovative plant wall developed by CASE, the design research laboratory of SOM in partnership with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This plant wall not only introduces nature into the building, but also lters the air and reduces overall energy use.

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Project location

Address:Bronx, NY, United States

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Public Safety Answering Center II / SOM" 18 May 2017. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/871472/public-safe-answering-center-ii-som> ISSN 0719-8884

© Albert Vecerka

社会安全服务中心 II / SOM 建筑事务所

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