BMW and the biggest architecture firm in the world have a vision for the post-gas, electric future

That’s the question Germany’s BMW aims to answer with help from the renowned architectural bureau Gensler.

By 2035, electric vehicles are expected to comprise 45% of all new car sales in the United States. This rapid development requires solutions for the roughly 145,000 gas stations that together account for over 3.6 billion square feet of real estate…

Their abundance and strategic positioning on street corners, however, makes them ideal for a complete reimagining of their role—not unlike when New York City repurposed raised subway tracks on the West Side into the High Line, a popular destination for its tourists and urban denizens alike.

The result is a concept the two companies are calling the “Nth Place”: not an office, not a home, but something in between that fits to the new post-pandemic era of hybrid work.

They are “more like new-age community centers”, according to Jordan Goldstein, co-firm managing principal at Gensler, the world’s largest architect buro.