Public Safety Answering Center II
New York City   
Award of Merit


Owner NYC Dept. of Design and Construction
Lead Design Firm Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill
General Contractor Tishman Technologies Corp.
Civil Engineer Philip Habib Associates
Structural Engineer Thornton Tomasetti
MEP Engineer Jaros, Baum & Bolles


Public Safety Answering Center II will be a second emergency communications 911 call intake and dispatch center for New York City. Located in the Bronx, the new building will act as a parallel operation to the existing center in downtown Brooklyn and will augment and provide redundancy to the current emergency 911 response service. The new center is expected to receive more than 12 million calls per year.

The 450,000-sq-ft blast-resistant building features a serrated facade made of recycled aluminum and a wraparound sculptural berm of wild grasses. With its use of recycled building materials and reduced water use for irrigation, the building has achieved LEED Gold certification. Other sustainable features include drought-resistant landscaping, low-flow fixtures and low-emitting materials for air quality.

The building’s fire protection system includes a combination fire standpipe and sprinkler system throughout the facility, with a redundant onsite water supply for the automatic fire pump. There is a combination of wet sprinkler systems for office areas, dry sprinkler systems for areas subject to freezing and pre-action sprinkler systems to protect critical data center areas and equipment.

The primary incoming electric service is elevated on the 10th floor of the building, which keeps the electric service protected from potential flooding. The plumbing system uses an onsite sewage retention tank and pumps for emergency operation.


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