Native American Public Services Facility
The Kewa Safety Complex serves the Santo Domingo Pueblo, located between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico. It provides new facilities for the Kewa tribe’s growing Emergency Medical Services and Volunteer Fire Department and houses a police substation for the state, county, tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs police departments.
The building demonstrates the sophisticated technology requirements of today’s emergency response teams, while also respecting the traditional values and architectural heritage of the Pueblo. In planning the building, we met with the Safety Complex staff, who apprised us of the architectural principles used by the Pueblo communities, such as providing views from the interior to the mountains and sky to provide a sense of connection to nature.
The facility includes three bays for ambulance and fire-fighting trucks, equipment storage, residential quarters, office space, a police substation and a community conference room.
We paid special attention to building orientation and living spaces, which are positioned above apparatus bays and have long views across the landscape. Rainwater collected from the building’s roof is held in large tanks for future reuse.
Project Team
Structural Engineer: Chavez-Grieves Consulting Engineers; MEP Engineer: Bridgers & Paxton; Landscape Architect: Morrow Reardon Wilkinson Miller; Civil Engineer: RME Santa Fe Engineering