The award was given for the design and architecture of a gas station named ‘POPS’ in Arcadia, Oklahoma, US. The brainchild of Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, POPS was designed by architect Rand Elliott of Elliott + Associates Architects, and features a 66-feet tall soda bottle sculpture adorning the side of the Route 66 highway in Arcadia. It also features a straw inside the bottle, making the sculpture look about 80 feet taller.
Paying homage to the gas-and-food stations of yesteryears, the soda-bottle sculpture is encircled with LEDs that change colour every day during the nights. Spanning 5,500 square feet, interior of POPS features some 12,000 regular-size soda bottles in every imaginable colour lined in shelves along a floor-to-ceiling window wall. The wall is supported by a cantilevered 110 x 70 feet steel canopy extending 110 unsupported feet. The angular steel-beam structure of the canopy is inspired from the historic bridges found along the Mother Road. Stretching out from the front of the building, the canopy also protects travellers from weather as they pump fuel.
The walls of POPS are made of Oklahoma red rock and are surrounded by 66 redbud trees. The station also features a retail store, old-fashioned soda machines, and an outdoor patio. It houses a collection of more than 12,000 soda-pop bottles, along with a full-service grill and soda fountain. In addition, there is a restaurant that features several cafe food options such as burgers and shakes.
POPS opened in 2007 and became a tourist attraction.
AIA Central Oklahoma chapter honoured eight firms at the awards. Firms which received the Merit Award were: Fitzsimmons Architects, unbuilt category, for Kerr Family Homestead and Chickasaw Nation Pavilion; and Elliott + Associates Architects, historic preservation/adaptive reuse category, for Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Citation awards were given to Selser Schaefer Architects, unbuilt category, Visual Arts Center; Hornbeek Blatt Architects, historic preservation/adaptive reuse, 1007 N Broadway; Frankfurt Short Bruza, urban design category, Chickasha Downtown Master Plan; Elliott + Associates Architects, architecture category, Chesapeake Car Park One; Randy Floyd Architects, architecture category, Oklahoma State Capitol West Entry Addition; and TAParchitecture, interiors category, Visual Image Advertising project.
Chair’s Commendation was given to Studio Architecture, unbuilt category, Flatiron project. The jury was made of three Seattle architects. AIA Central Oklahoma Design Excellence Awards program celebrates the best in architecture and urban design in Oklahoma region.
