Lego Research: Gas Station

When I build something with my legos, there's usually been a time of mental preparation and more often than not research. Sometimes a single building proves all of the inspiration I need to go forward with an idea, but usually it involves looking at lots of structures, a quest in which I try to imagine as many possibilities as I can.

My next project will be a gas station. I already own a couple decades worth of Lego gas station models. Models for Shell and for the faux Lego brand, Octane. In the end, the creation I make this time will go with Octane as it's corporate name, and that's just out of the practical consideration that present and future Lego® products will no doubt cater to this logo. And my thinking about it's design is to make it both vintage and modern at the same time. To create the look of a vintage structure that has been retro-fitted for the 21st century. So with that in mind I went in search of inspiration.

This little gem is found in the St. John's neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. I love the Art Deco elements.

The tile work on this "Gulf" station is awesome and I love the neon lights over the pumps, too! Remember: Gulf became BP (British Petroleum) -- They might do themselves a huge PR favor and return to that label as a reflection of their commitment to make right what their hubris and greed has made foul....but I digress! Great vintage station.

Magnolia was a new brand of gasoline to me. This station is in Shamrock, Texas, and it appears to be a southern company and clearly a subsidiary of Standard Oil, the oil company founded by the Rockefellers et. al. and based in Cleveland, Ohio. I love the standard oil pegasus symbol.

When you think about it, what's more ubiquitous on the landscape of buildings than gas stations? Churches? Fast food joints? Today gas stations favor the uniformity of fast food joints, but there was a time when they were more akin to the church house in their design. Oh sure, you know a church by it's steeple, and you knew a gas station by its pumps, but there was a freedom to move beyond that simple required element and explore the possible, incorporate the idiosyncratic zeitgeist of the time and place.

Perhaps no example that I found embodies this more than this teapot (dome) filling station in Zillah, Washington. Built in 1922, and still in use today, it claims to be the oldest continuously operating gas station in the United States. And don't you love the outhouse in the background! Created as a commentary on the Teapot Dome scandal of the Warren G. Harding administration, I seriously doubt if most people stopping by to filler up today would have an ounce of recognition as to it's ironic inception.

Along with photos, I also stumbled upon this set of architectural drawings. Way, way cool.

Now, to the mod- ern. And Shell really has some excep- tional ex- amples of this. For instance, this purple arches station in Canada.

But one of my favorite discoveries is this urban station in Hiroshima, Japan. Designed to "fit" a very limited space, the hoses dangle down from the canopy and the pumps are completely eliminated from the station. I presume transactions occur via the attendant or a computer credit card station conveniently located on the exterior of some portion of the wall. And look, it even has a car wash!

Let's finish my review of gas stations in Los Angeles. After all, it is the most notoriously car bound metropolis on the planet, and the home of a couple of very cutting edge gas stations.

Does any station featured in this post offer a more amazing subject for a work of art? And I know, it's not an easy question. But just look at this beautiful photograph.

Designed by the Kanner Architects and build in 2009, it's design is so evocative of the expressway it sits beside that you half expect an 18-wheeler to come flying off of the canopy!

Holy Frank Gehry, Batman! This BP station, also in Los Angeles (the corner of Olympic and Robertson) says so many things, and some are certainly unintended. Besides the homage to architect super star Frank Gehry, I get the feel of a transformer about to come to life and walk away! And the uber dominant billboard? What's up with that? But still it is a wonderful gas station.

Stay tuned to see where all of this leads me!