Samuel Mockbee Canton Fire Station No. 3, Canton, Mississippi, 1984
Samuel Mockbee believed that “the best way to make real architecture is by letting a building evolve out of the culture and place.”
In accordance with this idea, Mockbee’s design for the Canton Fire Station No. 3 evokes local architectural traditions, vernacular materials, and visual associations — but reinterprets them through a modernist lens. For example, the twin gable roof over the facade (early incarnations of which are featured in this sketch) recalls the gables of nearby shotgun houses. It also references the shapes of a fireman’s protective hat and the town’s water tower.
The finished building is constructed of corrugated metal and metal tubing painted white.
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