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 approximately 30 km outside of Madrid. The 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 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 ours is that this one has a more playful 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.

Completed March 2008

 

 

 

 

 

san agustín de guadalix service station