In Gear

Completed in 2025, In Gear is a two-part ceramic installation created for the new Palm Beach County Fire Station 49. Spanning the building’s lobby and connecting corridor, the work brings sculptural presence, material depth, and geographic specificity into the daily environment of the station’s first responders.

The installation consists of two large ceramic murals—Lifelines and Vital Signs—each integrating a hand-carved bas-relief surrounded by a field of hand-painted ceramic tiles that depict the station’s actual service area. This tile cartography positions the artwork directly within the physical and civic landscape it serves, rooting the visual language of the piece in the station’s real geography rather than symbolic abstraction.

The title In Gear reflects a layered understanding of readiness: the preparedness required to respond at a moment’s notice, the protective gear that makes such action possible, and the coordinated systems that allow a station to function as a unified whole. Cortada’s choice to introduce the rugged tactility of hand-made clay into the building’s contemporary architecture creates a purposeful dialogue between material and environment. The hand-carved surfaces—marked by the physical force of tools and gesture—echo the grounded, tactile reality of emergency work.

Together, the pair of murals establishes a visual threshold for the station: a place shaped by service, rooted in place, and brought into focus through the language of clay, cartography, and form.