GAS STATIONS
Barel Architects has years of experience in designing gas stations all over Israel, and the firm has also participated in the ‘Oasis’ Exhibition for one of the stations it designed: a gas station on Soncino Street in Tel Aviv. The station even earned the flattering nickname ‘The High-Tech Station on The Garage Street’.
In the past, gas stations used to be nothing more than just a place to stop and fill up the vehicle with gas. The latter was their essence and their main purpose. Nowadays, gas stations are required to supply in addition, a store, toilets, offices, or even a commercial center. The design and the actual building of the gas station, have significant design aspects in the realm of planning and functionality, which Barel Architects are experts in, owing to its long experience in this domain.
Designing gas stations differs from any other commercial, public, or residential building. The design process is long and complex and requires experience and creative thinking. Various stringent safety requirements must be met when building a gas station and furthermore, there are also requirements for the protection of the environment, for which the firm has to obtain all the adequate permits from the local authorities concerned. The difference makes the planning challenging, interesting, and offers an opportunity to create a special and unconventional structure. Nowadays, gas stations are characterized by practical buildings but also such that attract the drivers’ attention, encouraging them to stop and fill up precisely there.
Designing a gas station is considered a challenge that many world renowned architects have taken on, such as: Frank Louie Drive, Mario Botta, Frank Gehry, and others. Designing a gas station is considered complex since it entails designing a relatively small building that must also be unique and interesting. Gas station design has to take into account numerous parameters, such as the location of the station, the size of the land, vehicular traffic in the area, the estimated time spent at the space of the station, and more. These parameters affect the design, planning, and execution.
By using Eco-Tech, Barel Architects turns gas stations into energy saving complexes. The firm characterizes the terrain and utilizes it for optimal construction, and for the benefit of the environment in general. Barel Architects’ design of several gas stations throughout Israel generated a conceptual change in the essence of gas stations in Israel. Connecting the roofs to the attached buildings has turned the stations from a mere functional gas filling place to a commercial center in its own right.
