The Lawton Public Safety facility receives design awards

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - After years of hard work to build the public safety facility, the City of Lawton is celebrating being selected to receive various design awards.

The new public safety facility opened last year after 6 years of construction.

They have received gold awards in 3 categories, one for shared facilities from Firehouse Magazine and the other by the Association of licensed architects, the third one was a people’s choice award.

Fire Chief Jared Williams said this new facility was much needed.

“I think it’s just another kudo for the City of Lawton and the citizens of Lawton that were able to get behind this project, it is a much needed project. Both facilities, the police station and the fire station, were aged,” said Williams.

This facility was no easy task. It had to house the police department, fire department, city courts, and the city jail in one building on a narrow site. Chief Williams said the finished product represents the bond between the departments.

“While we like to give each other a hard time, we do get along well when we need to, and this facility is just another example of the combined teamwork that we have,” he said.

The project’s lead architect said with these awards they have set new standards for future buildings around the country. He said everyone at the facility contributed to the design ideas.

“The award goes to everybody. While I take pride in leading the charge and guiding the design, it really is more it’s our award and not my award,” said Crump.

While on a drive Crump was inspired by the Wichita mountains for the swooping form of the entry and the live oak is native to the mountains. The texture on the walls will remind you of the stones within the mountains.

“The most exciting thing and the most challenging thing was to make the building uniquely Lawton and that created these visuals that become the award winning visuals,” he said.

The awards will be formally presented to city council in the coming month.

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