Greenstop Rest Area | Central Valley, California

Already an anomaly within the homogeneous and linear interstate highway system, a rest area is an opportunity to reconsider the highway’s relationship to the surrounding communities it links. Possibly a self-styled community in its own right, the Greenstop rest area is a place to foster connections between the various travelers on Highway 99 – something that can be achieved by redesigning the relationships between specific requirements for each of its users: local residents, tourists, and truck drivers. Through the incorporation of natural processes into highway design, the Greenstop not only becomes a destination for Californian drivers, but it also allows technology and nature to co-inhabit a site as equals, revitalizing a key area and precedent to future sustainable development.