Gateway Gas

1990  Portland, ME
Gas station and convenience store.
Principal: Michael Wisniewski        

The problem was posed as doing a gas station and convenience store on a site that was a major gateway into the downtown, right after getting off the interstate.  Our proposal was quite modest, subtly tweaking the archetypes of what a gas/convenience store is and concentrating on context.

We started by looking at the building across the street:  brick with an odd curved corner.  The core of our proposal is a  bricked zone with a curved tower leading to an observation deck.  The brick and curves on both sides of the street work together to form a gateway; like passing through a roman wall.  A terraced brick central tower over the cash register continues the theme.  The canopy is treated as a curved floating plane.  The final result is something familiar and yet a bit different.