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THE REDLAND W:E,'LCOME ADDIT'ION BY THIS SUMMER, THE REDLAND WILL HAVE ITS OWN FIRE STATION, AND RESIDENTS ARE EXCITED. BECAUSE OF THE- AREA'S RICH AGRICULTURAL HISTORY, PART OF THE STATION RESEMBLES A BARN BY ELIZABETH CARAH Sidney Robinson, who ecaram@herald.com ' 'owns a tropical fruit grove, A new fire station is coming brought mangoes and avoca- ' to the Redland. But it doesn't ,dos to the groundbreaking cer- look like one. emony and shared them with . In a, tip of the hat to the the crowd. Redland's agricultural roots, " Thanks to his wife; Maryan- the new station looks like an neUe, Robinson was able to old,fashioned barn. give the invocation 'speech. Set to open sometime this She asked the fire department. summer, the !!tation will aug- to let him do it. , ment coverage for the growing . The invocation speech was South' Miami-Dade area. actually a prayer taken from a Construction started last Christian Science Book that summer, when about 25 peo- started with, "This is the day pie attempted to beat the July the Lord hath made; Be glad, sun - which was followed by give thanks, .rejoice." . rain - by gathering. under a Robinson, who has lived in . tent at the groundbreaking the Redland for half a century, ceremony. said, "This station will protect In the crowd, Redlanders our quaint, rural farming com- were an abuzz with excite- munity." ' ment. The amount of community "It was confrover.sial at involvement amazed Shari fIrst'," said RedIand resident Holbert Lipner, spokeswoman Pat.Wade, when.asked about for the Miami-Dade Fire Res- the community's reaction to cue Department. the station. Wade, chairperson. "It almost felt as if the of the Redland Community . entire Redland community Council, attended the cere- was involved," Holbert IJpner mony last summer. ,said. "People do not like to see It was not, of course. But agricultural land being used she believes the entire com- for anything other than agri- . munity will benefit from a new culture." . fIre 'station. "This fire station When people learned that will help us respond to calls the station would be built off quicker," she said. of Krome Avenue and South- The station is 6,400 square west 248th Street, which is an feet and will cost about $1.4 area that already has other million to build. Most of the businesses,. they were money is coming from impact appeased, Wade said. fees. Alleguez Architecture EUZABETH CARAH/FOR THE HERALD .UNUSUAL: The entrance to the new Redland fire station resembles a barn. The rest looks like a fire station. worked together with contrac- tors Pino Kaoba and Associ- ates to d.evelop the barn-like structure. T.he' companies have worked. together in the past, and have designed and built six fire stations in Miami-Dade County, including the West Kendall station at Southwest 163rd Avenue and Sunset Drive. "The design criteria asks us to be sensitive to the area," said contractor Patricia Pino, . president of Pino Kaoba, a West Kendall company. - "But our team exceeds the requirements. We just do not know how to work any other way." Ana Alleguez, the architect who designed the plans, is also proud of the team's work: "We wanted to make it look like a barn because of the his- tory of Redland, which is rural," said Alleguez, who runs the Coral Gables architecture fIrIQ.. "We ma!ie it unique and it looks beautiful." Alleguez and Pino are so proud of their work they are submitting the fire station's plans to theDesign Build Insti- tute of America, a national organization that recognizes excellence in the industry. Not only are the women proud of their professional accomplishments, they are also proud of their personal ones. "It is hard to fInd two women-owned firms in con- struction," Pino said. She is also proud that both women are Hispanic. Alleguez added: "Being a woman architect is not easy because it is a male-dominated field. As women, we tend to work twice as hard to get noticed." The Redland's bright red- and-white. barn-like fIre sta- tion may help.