Sustainability drives station design
ARCHITECTURE
By Robert Behre
The notion of an environmentally friendly gas station might seem like the ultimate oxymoron, but one exists right here in Knightsville.
Just outside Summerville, you still can gas up your big SUV and buy cigarettes and junk food, all while being enclosed in structures with a forward-thinking, sustainable design.
Developer Mark Jordan had the freedom and imagination to try something new, a far cry from some of his earlier stations that could be considered little more than bits of sprawl.
Working with architect Christopher Karpus, the new Kangaroo station is built of concrete made partly from fly ash from coal-fired power plants. Its counter tops are made from recycled glass, and the cabinets are made from pressed wheat. The paint has few volatile organic compounds that taint the air.
Photo Gallery
Knightsville Kangaroo
A novel new gas station on Central Avenue outside Summerville is built in part from recycled materials and has other features designed to save energy.
Its canopy has LED lights that use very little power and don't let light spill off the site, while Sola Tubes let natural light enter the store through several small openings — even in the restrooms.
There are even solar panels positioned on the roof out back, creating some power to help keep the beer cold and providing a digital readout of exactly how many pounds of carbon dioxide are being saved.
"It is an experiment," Jordan acknowledges. His thinking began with a simple idea: "Let's do something cool."
The other goal, besides sustainability, was to make the building fit into Summerville. That explains why the roof is black metal and not covered with plants.
"Black isn't necessarily a sustainable color, but I wanted to tie it in with some traditional Summerville architecture," Karpus says. "You don't want a gas station that looks like a space ship trying to take off."
Jordan also was responsible for the new Kangaroo station on S.C. Highway 61 (designed by Coast Architects and featured in this space a few months ago), but that project was more notable for its exuberant canopy and other efforts to make it pedestrian friendly.
This new station at 1597 Central Ave. also features an innovative canopy, one with two curved overlapping roofs that let some light through, and Karpus says the concept is to make it more inviting, to open it up to the building.
Jordan says these novel steps added about 10 percent to the station's cost — a price he had the freedom to pay because he developed the station himself rather than for a larger corporation.
He reckons that some of the station's environmental features may be attracting the customers, while others don't. He likens it to the quip by retail pioneer John Wanamaker, who once said he knows he wastes half his money on advertising — he just wasn't sure which half.
"I don't know what I could be wasting on this station," Jordan says, "but I'll tell you what. It's cool."
It appears to be paying off: The station is busier than he would have expected, and he attributes some of that to the design. Many have thanked him for doing something so nice, and he now plans to build others just like it in Goose Creek and near the fairgrounds in Ladson.
When even gas stations are being built with energy use and environmental impacts in mind, a new era indeed has begun to dawn.
Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His e-mail address is rbehre@postandcourier.com, and his mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403.
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postman01 (anonymous) says...
What an absurd soliloquy from an empty headed LEFT WINGER that doesn't comprehend that a gas station that doesn't leak gas into the ground is inherently envirtonmentally NEUTRAL.
Note the insistence on a worn-out slogan (environmentally friendly) and the idiocy of anthropomorphizing a physical structure that just happens to have been built by human beings. Being environmentally neutral means it has no effect.
Also note the trite nonsense about "sustainability". Our planet has sustained itself for 4.5 billion years. It has sustained life for at least 3 billion years, and human life for 100,000. Furthermore, our civilization has sustained itself for centuries, all without his help. This includes the sustainability of running water, electricity, motor vehicles, and more.
Here's the definition of "soliloquy" from Merriam Webster:
Main Entry: so*lil*o*quy
Pronunciation: \sÉ-Ë li-lÉ-kwÄ\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural so*lil*o*quies
Etymology: Late Latin soliloquium, from Latin solus alone + loqui to speak
Date: circa 1613
1 : the act of talking to oneself
2 : a dramatic monologue that represents a series of unspoken reflections
See what he really is? The newspaper is his vehicle to talk to HIMSELF, deliver his printed diatribe, and delude himself that he's somehow profound and important because he works for a "newspaper".
If he actually shared some important facts and insights that REALLY benefit us instead of mentally mast____ting in public, maybe he'd be worth something to the rest of us.
May 25, 2009 at 5:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eatmorecollards (anonymous) says...
The first sentence of the first paragraph about sums this article up.
I will share a secret with gas station owners. Sell gas a few cents cheaper than anyone else and they will come.
May 25, 2009 at 7:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Reader (anonymous) says...
Postman - Get up on the wrong side of the bed? Geesh!
As to the rant about this being a mere soliloquy, this is an interesting story that you obviously read, and it is not a speech of any kind, dramatic or otherwise.
As long as you have your dictionary out, you should look up things like sustainable and environmentally friendly if you don't think they have any clear meaning. You seem to have a problem with the mere use of the words to describe something that others can define. Both appear in my dictionary and can also be located in Merriam-Webster's on-line editions.
This is an architectural column that runs every Monday. Robert Behre has done a nice job here discussing what makes this building's architecture distinct. He has explained that, through things like solar power and the use of natural light, it uses less power than other buildings. He has also explained the purpose behind some of the purely stylistic choices.
A good job to the builder, and a good job to the writer too!
May 25, 2009 at 9:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
horseandland (anonymous) says...
The whole problem with our economy....gas prices. When Katrina hit and they double the gas prices everyones out lay went up from 50 to 100 dollars a week. NO one could take that pressure and then something had to give. Rent credit card bills something. Then they double your interest on the credit cards and then lower income people could no longer afford to drive or pay rent. Move forward to the next summer and the storm brought us 4 and 5 dollars a gallon and it took the rest of us out. If the government wants to do something that will make a difference right now get these gas prices down to 1.45 1.65 and you will see the economy come back. And don't forget diesel prices need to be 40 cents cheaper than gas. It affects everything you buy. Then lets put a solar panel on each house and a hydro pump in the rivers and sell the power back. How about a windmill on every open field. It is mighty funny that each Holiday for no reason the gas goes up. Exxon got on TV and said it made 45 billion dollars in one quarter and it was good for America because the stock holders paid taxes. Well if it was a chain saw company selling a chain saw after a storm you would want him locked up in jail. I feel the same way how about a million dollar profit and the rest of us able to survive.
May 25, 2009 at 9:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
postman01 (anonymous) says...
Wrong, Reader. I understand the big picture correctly, the actual functioning of this man and this article correctly, and you do not.
Reading a lot is fine. The next step--comprehending everything a given piece is communicating both express and implied--obviously eludes you.
Maybe you'll comprehend the next thing you read 100% correctly. Mr Behre's article is not interesting. It is BORING and PREDICTABLE, constituting nothing more than a makeover of a defective theme in a new guise.
May 25, 2009 at 1:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
postman01 (anonymous) says...
Excellent job of ridicule, horseandland.
May 25, 2009 at 2:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LuckyDay (anonymous) says...
postman01>
You're such an intellectual giant! Now I know where to turn for creative insight on important topics such as gas station architecture and petantic dictionary definitions. Please, get a life.
May 25, 2009 at 2:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
AuntBea (anonymous) says...
I have visited this new gas station many times. They DO sell the gas a few cents cheaper, they have a wonderful selection of tasty coffee, and the employees are FRIENDLY. Now that I know about the environmentally friendly build, I am even more impressed.
May 25, 2009 at 6:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
postman01 (anonymous) says...
Lucky Day, do you realize that in one post you have revealed insecurity and an inferiority complex?
May 25, 2009 at 8:36 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
fred_durst1 (anonymous) says...
postman01-
DUDE! It's just a weekly article covering architecture. Get back on your meds.
May 26, 2009 at 8:58 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Luna (anonymous) says...
If every new construction took the same measures what could be the impact?
Less costs, better product, Mother Earth will be happy, the community looks better, more customers.....sounds like a win win to me.
May 26, 2009 at 9:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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