Project Overview

Excerpt from the 2010 Young Architect’s Design Studio Competition winning entry:

There are no gas stations in downtown Pittsburgh, and we should keep it this way. Instead, we have an opportunity unlike any city to have environmentally sustainable fueling stations powering our downtown drivers. The first of its kind will be at the corner of Tenth Street and Penn Avenue.

The Organic Mechanic is more than just a parking lot or a gateway to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. It is the spirit of pioneering that defines our city. Just as Pittsburgh has reinvented itself from its steel glory days to the technology, healthcare, and higher education giant it is today, the Organic Mechanic continues our city’s revolutionary tradition.

The internal combustion engine was designed to run on ethanol; therefore any car that runs on gasoline can run on ethanol with minor adjustments. The plastic and rubber hoses and gaskets of a car’s engine need only to be replaced with metal counterparts to make widespread use of ethanol-powered vehicles a reality. The Organic Mechanic’s conversion shop specializes in just these procedures, while also expanding the location’s parking facilities. Downtown drivers simply schedule appointments, park their cars, and when they return at the end of their workdays, their vehicles are transformed into eco-friendly grass guzzlers.

The Organic Mechanic is more than a fueling station or a mechanic’s shop; it is an instrument of change.