Lincoln City Police Station

How can a civic building reflect the local character of its residents without being a caricature for tourists?

Project Information

The former Lincoln Police Department was located within an old ambulance building on a heavily wooded and sloped site. In 2017, the City selected FFA Architecture and Interiors to design a new 18,500 sf facility. The project presented several challenges to be addressed. The first was the site itself. With steep topography, it is pinched at the location of the building and backs up to a future city park that the design team is developing solutions for. This created limited access points and difficulty in separating the public and secure zones of the site. Another challenge was that the existing building housed dispatch and needed to remain in place during construction. This limited the buildable area of the site.

After a robust programming effort with the Lincoln City Police and our emergency services consulting architects, MWL, the FFA team engaged in a research phase. The team worked closely with City Council and police staff to identify the goals for the project and key metrics for the it’s success. The team also conducted in-depth research into the history and culture of Lincoln City, working with citizens to determine an “origin story” that would influence the representation of the final project.

The design team worked diligently to incorporate all these factors into a successful, lasting design solution.  The building’s material choices meet the resiliency requirements of Lincoln City’s coastal environment as well as the safety and security requirements that law enforcement facilities demand.   Its relationship to the public park, community spaces, and use of local building materials also help foster its connection to the public and identity as a welcoming civic building.