Boulouparis Fire Station

A fire and rescue station is one of the most codified programmes there is. Functional above all, driven by emergency and standards, it is built almost everywhere in the same way.

In Boulouparis, the old station had had its day, too cramped for its missions. What was needed was a facility worthy of its firefighters, professional and volunteer alike. It was also a chance to ask a rare question for this kind of building: can a rescue station do its job without turning its back on the country around it?

An immersion in bush country

The project draws on the bush-country world of the well-known comic Tonton Marcel: cattle stations, their long roofs and water tanks standing in the grass. That imagery reads at once in the water tower perched on its steel frame, raised like a totem at the entrance to the site. Where an anonymous station was expected, one recognises a piece of Caledonian bush.

Material and climate

The building uses bio-sourced materials: timber, as cladding and structure, and rammed earth, whose base anchors it to its ground. Every room is cross-ventilated and naturally aired, sheltered by wide roof overhangs. Thermal comfort comes from the design of the building, not from added machinery.

The rigour of use

Behind the image, a facility rethought from the ground up: an appliance bay where vehicles no longer cross, a route that separates clean from dirty right through to the decontamination airlock, individual rooms for the crews’ rest. Every daily gesture of the firefighters guided the plan.

A rescue station that does its job without disowning its place. Where a standard facility was expected, Boulouparis offers an immersion in bush country and, above all, takes care of those who keep watch, day and night: better rest conditions, a building to be proud of, and a concrete argument for attracting new volunteers. Delivered in 2024 for the SIVM Sud.