The Hip LA Gas Station
Posted on June 25, 2007 by C Johnson
Culture, Design, Tech
At a time when “going green” is hot on everyone’s lips, it’s nice to see a major company like BP doing more than just shooting off their mouth. Their new “Helios House,” a BP gas station on the corner of Robertson and Olympic here in LA, makes no pretense of being an answer to our present environmental woes. It doesn’t even claim to be a “prototype station of the future.” Built entirely out of recycle-able or recycled, non-toxic materials, this curious little pit stop simply does what it can…for being a gas station, of course.
It features solar energy panels to save on electricity, strict water conservation methods, a roof covered with a bed of living plants to reduce the need for AC/heating as well as CO2, the bathroom sinks and toilet seats are made from post-industrial aluminum scrap, there’s a “cell phone drop off” for recycling old mobile phones and you can even buy specially designed nifty little postcards printed on, of course, recycled paper. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
The Helios House hails itself humbly as being just “a little bit better.” And yeah, it’s still a GAS station but, hey, the fact that a major oil company is making an effort to make a difference, however small it may be, is MORE than just a little better. Something, after all, is a whole heck of a lot better than nothing.
(Side note: someone really might want to notify Frank Ghery that BP appears to be guilty of totally ripping off his Disney Concert Hall!)
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