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Rather than merely repeating tropes of gas stations, this design family delves into questions related to design and urban space that come with the rise of electric vehicles: what will our automobile infrastructure look like if automakers themselves design and coordinate our “refueling” networks? How will this affect the appearance of our cities, and how can we adapt to unique cities and conditions worldwide? How are brands expanding beyond their primary products and services to create brand “worlds” of experience, and how can a brand ethos for design and service legibly “infuse” these new worlds? These questions will become increasingly important to a changing mobility network, and this project provides a positive, innovative, and actionable response.
An important part of this project was designing for the possibility of future “system” expansions and permutations, technological adaptations, and various site conditions. Charging station canopies have different form factors to adapt to compact urban sites, allowing them to be built in almost any urban site condition. Canopies are further designed to integrate with both wired and wireless charging units. Canopies are designed for potential future “smart” features and adaptations, such as edge lighting around the canopy that would blink or otherwise indicate itself when an electric vehicle is nearby, or edge lighting and elements that may change color to show battery charging levels.
The new EVC Stations encompass a range of exterior and interior permutations, which interpret Genesis’ core design identity of “Athletic Elegance” while responding to different climates and site conditions. The exterior EVC Stations are designed to be instantly recognizable within an urban environment, defined by canopies with a continuous LED edge and a weightless, slender profile that evokes the distinctive Genesis wing emblem. On the underside of the canopy, a modular insert provides for different functions specific to each EVC site, ranging from site lighting, a heating element, a display screen, or sun louvers. The exterior EVC Stations are designed in three different form factors to accommodate different site parameters and number of charging units, with sites including the Genesis flagship locations in Suji and Gangnam. To create unity across the unique existing conditions at each interior EVC Station, we introduced a set of recognizable surfaces and forms identifying the charging locations. For vertical surfaces, a wall display conceals the required infrastructure for the charging units and provides a visible and clear branding wall; floor surfaces feature an epoxy-coated directional branding emblem that denotes each interior EVC Station.
Since debuting in 2015, Genesis has emerged as a globally recognized luxury automotive brand competing with the industry’s premium electric vehicle makers. Morphosis partnered with the company to bring their signature brand, styling, and seamless customer experience model to the design of new Electric Vehicle Charging (EVC) Stations throughout the world.
Morphosis is a Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm, creating compelling work that is intelligent, pragmatic, and powerful. For more than 40 years, Morphosis has practiced at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and sustainable design, working across a broad range of project types and scales, including civic, academic, cultural, commercial, residential, and mixed-use; urban master plans; and original publications, objects, and art. Partners Arne Emerson, Ung-Joo Scott Lee, Brandon Welling, and Eui-Sung Yi lead a team of more than 80 in Los Angeles, New York, Dubai, Seoul, and Shanghai, in collaboration with founder and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne.
Morphosis has received 29 Progressive Architecture awards, over 120 American Institute of Architects (AIA) awards, and numerous other honors. With Morphosis, Thom Mayne has been the recipient of the highest recognitions in architecture, including the Pritzker Prize (2005) and the AIA Gold Medal (2013).
