A1 Gas Station | Belen Moneo Feduchi

This service station is located on the A-1 highway, one of Spain's 6 major national highways, near the town of San Agustin de Guadalix and approximately 30 km outside of Madrid. This architecture project is comprised of three curvilinear canopy structures and a rectilinear building which houses, in addition to the service station's facilities, a full service restaurant.

In the 1940's and 1950's the design of service stations by architecture studios exuded optimism and modernity; the structures employed cantilevers and projections that gave a sense of magic to the spaces below. Perhaps the difference between these service stations and the one we have designed is that ours has a more playful and contemporary character, thanks to the curved shape of the canopies. It is not only a shelter: it is fluid movement, clearly looking to the natural landscape of rolling hills in the distance.

In this project the program calls for the structure to act as signage, but while attending to this we also strived to create an architecture that is responsive and respectful of its surroundings. The canopies are seen from afar like birds or clouds on the horizon, hovering between the sky and the land.