At the intersection of Obama and Exposition Boulevard, is a Shell gas station that will be surrounded by a new transit-oriented development project on three sides. The new development project, called Crenshaw Crossing is expected to be completed in 2023. The Shell gas station will most likely still be in operation long after the completion of this project. As we begin to densify Los Angeles, perhaps these gas stations will act as a future urban “Land Bank” that provides community assets in the near term while banking on a permanent development in the future. This design proposal seeks to alleviate some of the big challenges that the city of Los Angeles is currently facing: poverty & income inequality, the lack of low-scale renewable energy, food deserts, and an overall lack of public open spaces. This proposal leverages the existing facilities of the Shell Gas Station into new community assets that can transition the low-scale auto-oriented development into a public-private community asset.

SOLAR CANOPY & GREY WATER SYSTEM

The existing gas station canopy could provide an opportunity for a “Community Solar Array” on top and “Funnel Columns” to capture and store rainwater below. The funnels connect to the underground storage tanks where former gasoline storage tanks are remediated for the storage of greywater to use for the Station’s gardens. 

WASH FARM

To provide fresh and local food production, the existing car wash facility will be reconfigured into the “Wash Farm”; a greenhouse farm on top and an aquaponic indoor garden below. This could provide a local food source for the neighborhood and help address the problems of food deserts in the Los Angeles area. 

AN URBAN FOREST + PLAYSCAPE

To address the lack of open spaces in Los Angeles, the gas station will provide a space for an urban forest, as well as, a playscape for children who need places to play. The “Fossil Fuel playscape” pokes fun at the outdated gas station typology, providing a rubberized black play-surface (representing oil) with fossil stencils of various prehistoric flora and fauna, in order to teach kids about fossil fuels in a playful way. 

CRENSHAW COMMUNITY MARKETPLACE

The “Community Marketplace” can provide various functions from a corner store, cafes, a food pantry, and even public restrooms for anyone to use. Produce grown on-site can also be sold in the marketplace. The Crenshaw Community marketplace will provide a vital public space for the neighborhood providing real benefits to the neighborhood with the potential for future urban development in mind.