11 September 2007
Office dA, a Boston based design firm, has created in the heart of Los Angeles this gas station that creates quite a paradoxical relationship for those who seek it out. For the everyday user of this gas station, it’s just another funky monument in the “look at me!” culture of Los Angeles road side architecture. This one really pops seeing that it’s a bit like a Mathematic simulation gone awry. For those who seek the gas station out, they have probably heard that it has been built with recycled materials, with solar arrays, and with a number of systems that would normally classify a building as “green”. Knowing that it’s a green building, though, begs the question: Can a gas station really be green? Since promoting the production and distribution of gasoline is the real focal point of the station, I gas think a gas station cannot be green. I think of this project more as an opportunity for the architects to do something cool with a gas station. It’s as simple as that.
It pains me not to be able to present this, but I also designed a gas station for a group calling themselves NoPec. It’s a bio-diesel company in San Francisco, who make it their dream to supply local truck fleets with the recycled fuel. (note to self: get permission to show image on Designcrack) . There is a huge chasm between my design and the design built by Office dA. Whereas their design focussed on the grandness of the gas station, my design was a very simple kit of parts, stripped down to its most minimal components. More images to come…
Object: gas station
Designer: Office dA
URL: www.officeda.com/
Categories: Architecture | Bumpy | Lust Factor: Hot | Metal
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Comments: 4 Comments
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
[...] Can a Gas Station Really Be Green? [...]
March 5th, 2008 at 4:55 am
As a designer, I have to question this idea that you can’t make a gas station green. Imagine you are an ethical, environmentally conscious architect who is approached by someone who is approached by someone to redesign their gas station, in a green way.
You can a) turn them down, because they sell gas, something which 99.9% of us rely on CONSISTENTLY EVERY DAY, if in no other way, indirectly. Can you honestly say that no product you purchase or service performed for or by you requires gasoline? If so, thats amazing, but not most people. And if you can’t, isn’t that a bit hypocritical?
Or b) accept the job, and make sure your design is conscious, helpful, and conservative, and has the least impact it can.
It is a green gas station. It isn’t a green field. It is a green VERSION of something else. Biodiesel emits carbon, as well, but it is a green alternative to petrol. There is no “green” standard, just people doing what they can to reduce the ill effects of our presence.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
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October 12th, 2008 at 5:46 am
I find this article very interesting as I too am doing a very similar project for a Design Thinking module at University. I find the above pictured example too disorderly, however quite agree with the idea of the station being “stripped down to its most minimal components”. It’ll be interesting to see the pictures you will be uploading, if any.