This colourful prototype for a future electric car–charging station embraces mutability as a design principle. Where might the charging stations of the future be located? For California firm SAW, the answer is obvious: at the gas stations that electric vehicles may soon render obsolete. What other amenities might these stations offer? SAW’s concept can be outfitted with food stalls, basketball courts, open-air movie theatres or anything else, really. In time, charging stations might become so small that they’re incorporated into parking meters, at which point the PLA, suddenly as outmoded as the gas stations of old, can begin a new life as a public green space.

Team Dan Spiegel and Megumi Aihara with Adam Strobel, Shinji Miyajima, Cheyenne Concepcion, Sharon Ling, Jeremy Ferguson and Namhi Kwun