Cerritos Chevron

Project Details

Project Description

This is a new gas station with convenience store. The canopy over the gas dispensers is an open steel frame supporting bi-facial solar panels that are visible from below and an integral part of the design. The convenience store is a triangle in plan that is tucked into the corner of the property. The rear walls are black sandblasted cmu with no openings. The front of the building consists of sheets of frosted laminated glass that alternate between vertical and folded. The widths of the sheets vary. The glass on the sides of the folded sheets are clear, which affords slivers of views into the store. There is no exposed metal framing on the sheets of glass; you only see glass and caulking from the exterior, which was very difficult and expensive to achieve. It was engineered and fabricated by Novum Structures, which specializes in glass. The intent was that the glass would be reminiscent of cascading water. Along the entire length of the front of the building is a fountain with jets that are programed to create turbulence during the day, and a calmer wave pattern at night so that the lights would project a moving water pattern on the glass. This is especially dramatic from the inside of the store at night. There is no signage on the exterior of the building except a logo on the doors. There are grasses and reeds planted in front of the fountain, and a dense planting of bamboo along the sides of the property which will eventually be visible above the building and screen the station from the adjacent residential neighborhood. The landscape, designed by Jamie Schwentker, Schwentker-Watts Design, will be very lush as it fills in.