Die Tankstelle

From early modernist designs like Hans Poelzig’s archetypal gas station to the Stuttgarter Schule standardized filling stations on the Reichsautobahn, and through to Lothar Götz’s modular post-war constructions—which paved the way for the standardized corporate designs that flourished later—gas stations have been a key element of our surroundings since the 1920s. While the design and construction of gas stations has since become a significant area of work for well-known architecture and engineering firms, this type of building has thus far received barely any attention in academic discourse. Franz Arlart examines and systematizes the development of gas stations in Germany with reference to the architects that designed them. Taking into account functional, technical, and symbolic considerations, this book presents the architectural development of the building type from 1920 to 2020 and outlines the trends that will shape gas station design going forward.