It's Taylor here, back to bring you some more innovative designs to your radar!
This is going to be a little bit of a shorter post compared to my last, as I realize after looking at previous posts, I write a lot! So for those of you that don't usually make it to the end of a long blog post, it's your lucky day!
Now, unless you've been chilling on a remote island or as some people may say "living under a rock", creating a 'greener' environment is the hottest trend, whether you actively participate or not. Now, green design has been around for awhile and is now exponentially picking up speed for many firms around the world. Many people are now just hearing about Green Design as it is something more and more people care about.
If you are wondering what exactly Green Design is, let me give you a brief.... very brief... lesson.
The USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) is an organization that, every day, strives for a healthier, more sustainable and prosperous future through building design. They head up LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), which is a market-driven program that provides third-party certification of green buildings... Now if that was just a jumble of words, the basics are this; there is a large checklist of items that a building has to fulfill in order to be granted certain ranks of how green the building is. Following are just a few things that LEED-certified buildings are designed to do:
- Lower operating costs and increase property value
- Reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills
- Conserve energy and water
- Be healthier and safer for occupants
- Reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions
- many more!
Buildings are given a silver, gold, or platinum rating, based on how many points the building earned.
Now I could go soooooooo much more in depth into LEED certification and Green Building Design, but I'm going to let you do more research on that if you desire. Here is the link >>USGBC<<.
Sooooo, FINALLY, to the design I have for you. This design, as far as I know, hasn't earned any LEED certification yet but it is still awesome design and green design non-the-less.
Presenting, United Chevron's Oil Station in Cerritos, CA by Kevin Oreck.
Now, if you're like me, then you think this is A+ awesome! But maybe this first glance at it doesn't do it much justice. I don't know about you, but whenever I'm on a road trip and stop at a gas station, it's pretty obvious to see whether a gas station's sole purpose is to pump gas and provide an icky toilet, or if it provides a stop that is pleasently and surprisingly nice and worth stopping by again.
Opting to accentuate rather than conceal specified solar panels, the Kevin Oreck Architect principal sandwiched photovoltaic cells between two layers of glass in the over-pump steel canopy, which casts faint light across the concrete, while amazingly generating 75 percent of the station’s electricity
The material theme seen on the canopy is also seen on the convenience store, which is fronted by panels of frosted and laminated glass, up-lit and folded in an alternating pattern to resemble a waterfall.
The above pictures give you a closer look at the exterior of the convenience store. Notice the "moat" that lines the front of the building? Who would have thought of putting so much detail into a convenience store?! It's like the store is creating a waterfall, ending in a pool of recycled water below.
Now walking in, the water-like theme is continued. Energy efficient tube lights line the ceiling, creating reflections on the concrete like floor and textured walls.
Part of the beauty of the station is the lack of branding throughout. The simple design solution gives it uniqueness that has even generated talk throughout the town of Cerritos to label it a work of art.I know this post is a little out there, but I wanted to bring you something that was unexpected but still pretty awesome in it's design solution. Hopefully you found something that interested you in this blog post and it wasn't too long for your liking! Feel free to offer some suggestions and critique, I'd love to here it!
Have a glorious day and enjoy your April!
God bless,
-Taylor
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