This facility received the Public Safety Centers Bronze Award in the 2024 Officer Station Design Awards.
Official Project Name: Knoxville Public Safety Campus
Project City/State: Knoxville, TN
Date Completed: February, 28, 2023
Chief/Director: Chief of Police Paul Noel
Project Area (sq. ft.): 228,000
Total Cost: $70,000,000
Cost Per Square Foot: $307
Architect/Firm Name: Architects Design Group
City/State: Winter Park, FL and Dallas, TX
Phone: (407) 647-1706
Website: adgusa.org
Design Team: Architects Design Group + McCarty Holsaple McCarty Architects
Project Description
This project was several years in the making; multiple sites and design delivery options were considered. Ultimately in 2019, the city decided to utilize an abandoned hospital complex, just north of downtown, to consolidate city resources. The new campus provides space for all police operations, fire-rescue administration, training space for both PD and FD, municipal courts, backup 911 center, Knox County’s emergency operations center, and pension offices into one consolidated public safety campus.
The project encompasses 222,000 sq. ft. of renovated space and 8,000 sq. ft. of additions. The scope of services for this project included developing a spatial needs assessment, master planning of the entire campus, renovation plan, full design documents, interior design, and construction oversight.
A large portion of the existing hospital was demolished, leaving three buildings and two structured parking garages that were renovated. The two existing multi-story garages provide secured parking for police and fire staff, as well as city-owned vehicles. A portion of the two existing garages were converted to provide storage, vehicle processing, and radio maintenance. The other structures were demolished and a green space was created for community use and future private development on the north end of the site.
To tie the buildings together, a new addition for the building entrance, courtroom and court administration was designed to anchor the campus. Our team also designed a plaza leading up to the entrance, creating a civic space befitting of the new campus. Access control, public access and program adjacencies were important considerations when creating the public safety campus.