Woods Bagot was thrilled to participate in Pump to Plug, a symposium designed to solicit and analyze creative responses to the challenges and opportunities posed – in urban, architectural and environmental terms – by the transition to electric vehicles. Christopher Hawthorne, Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles, in collaboration with the 3rd LA public-affairs series at USC’s Academy in the Public Square and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, organized the event.

Gas stations and automobiles hold a particular place in our cultural imagination. They were a technology and infrastructure that spoke to freedom of movement and invoked an excitement around future potential and a change to our daily lives. However, their impact on our urban fabric and natural environment has been dramatic, unexpected and has not lived up to our original dream.

Woods Bagot’s “Re-Charge LA” proposal uses electrified mobility as an opportunity to reinvigorate and re-energize. To look again to the potential for inspiration and create a cultural currency for the future of Los Angeles.

1. How can electric charging stations be representative of their local communities?
2. How do we promote the incredible forms of expression and cultural identity through
   a new type of automobile?
3. How do we create an adaptable and imbedded infrastructure that has different
   lives throughout the day and over time?

The first study was for the design of electric charging stations, with a focus on their urbanism and potential landscape and community-serving elements.

The second was for planning how the city should approach the future of gas station sites, with a focus on remediation, environmental justice, and potential conversion to housing.