Drivers along a coastal road in Iceland can now stop at a curved concrete service station styled like an American diner by architects KRADS of Iceland and Denmark.
Designed for the Icelandic branch of fuel company Shell, the Stöðin accommodates a restaurant and drive-through, as well as a shop and petrol station.
A thick concrete band wraps around the top of the exterior walls to create a canopy with an illuminated underside.
The ceiling inside the building is also exposed concrete, while cushioned panels of red, orange and yellow provide seating inside the restaurant.
Other interesting service stations from the Dezeen archive include a roadside restaurant in Spain and an alpine petrol station in Switzerland.
See all our stories about service stations »
Photography is by Kristinn Magnússon.
Here’s some more text from KRADS:
Stöðin – Roadside Stop
“Stöðin”, a roadside stop in the Icelandic countryside, is a conjoined restaurant, drive-through, convenience store and gas station. Icelandic culture is in many ways shaped by American influences due to the 65-year long presence of an American army base in the country.
Stöðin addresses this cultural relationship by incorporating architectural elements from the American diner that contrast the traditional Icelandic building method of in situ cast concrete.
The exposed concrete of the exterior bestows the diner with a permanence unknown by its American counterparts creating a friction between its streamlined aesthetics and the rustic materiality’s gravity. An elongated bar-desk transforms into seating arrangements and characterizes the semicircular restaurant, which offers panoramic views of the scenic fjord Borgarfjörður.
Location: Borgarnes, Iceland.
Size: 312 m2
Building lot: 4.840 m2
Year compl.: 2012
Client: Skeljungur, the Icelandic arm of Shell.
Collaborators: Aok-design (on interior), Ferill (engineering, structural/HVAC),
Mannvit (electrical engineering).
