Client: City of Burnsville MN

Overview

The Burnsville Fire Station #1 Project is a placemaking collaboration: Mueller Studio, ISG Architects, Minneapolis, the City of Burnsville Minnesota, and painter muralist Paul LaJeunesse. The plaza features 5 elements: (1) Ladder of Trust; (2) Fire Department Ashwood bench timeline, (3) painted mural, (4) Fire Hydrant Mister, and (5) interactive, educational Fire Tetrahedron – Heat, Fuel and Oxygen are required to make combustion. Viewers to the interactive sculpture can “put out the fire” by eliminating any one of these three fire ingredients by pulling any one of the nozzles.

Goals

The City of Burnsville recently completed a state of the art Fire Station #1. The City's vision was to include a public gathering space adjacent to the station for community members to learn more about their Community First Responders.

Process

Mueller Studio in partnership with ISG Architects, Minneapolis were awarded the commission to create a "place" for public gathering. Webber Group Interactive, JTH Lighting, Recreation by Lemmie Jones and MNFX Minneapolis provided key water and light engineering. We also held 2 Community Engagement Events including a Ground-Breaking Ceremony, allowing local residents to respond to questions about public safety, historical fire memories, and community trust in First Responders. Fire Station drawings from kids were exhibited as well, culminating with an Open House event with Food Trucks and tours of the new state of the art Fire Station #1

Additional Information

The Placemaking Project includes 5 elements: 1. Hydrant Mister is a push button water misting activator with an internally lit LED Fire hose wrapping around the gathering space perimeter 2. Radial benches have significant Department historical time-line events engraved into the ash wood slats 3. Mural painting on concrete wall by Duluth, Minnesota artist Paul LeJeunesse 4. 16' Ladder of Trust Sculpture LEDS powder-coated steel, acrylic 5. Fire Tetrahedron interactive educational sculpture