The circular shape of this small, one or two-level structure reflected the client’s wish to stand out from the competion with filling stations whose originality of design would combine a powerful, readily identifiable signal with an attractively modern corporate image. Jean Prouvé saw this as the chance to pursue his long-standing experiments in producing innovative, functional architectural entities in harmony with the technical advances of his time.
Returning to the principle of the supporting core he had come up with in the early 1950s, Prouvé suggested a central-plan building whose radial metal structure rested on a bent steel axial shaft. This small building illustrates the designer’s interest in utilizing the resources provided by new materials, such as plastic. For Jean Prouvé the assemblage was an integral part of the project, helping to highlight the constructional process: it took only four builders and 10 days for the filling station to become operational.
Although the filling stations were not originally planned to be movable, the process devised by Prouvé and his team included this possibility, and a number of them were quickly and easily moved several kilometers in response to changing traffic needs. The filling stations were planned to last ten years or so. Some of them are still in existence — as filling stations or not — but only few remain in their original state.
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