#1 Pops Arcadia Route 66

Location: Oklahoma, USA

Architect: Elliott + Associates

Completed: 2007

With a country as vast and widely-spread as the USA, to stand out designers need to do something different, particularly when it comes to a rest stop on the renowned Route 66.

Pops gas station located in Arcadia, Oklahoma, gives travellers another reason than gas to stop with a 66ft-tall soda bottle out the front.

The towering structure glows neon at night time with LEDs, shining like a beacon to light up the iconic highway.

Headed up by Rand Elliott, architecture practice Elliott + Associates are the masterminds behind this eye-catching structure. The practice aimed to, 'portray the image of freedom on the open road', and create a, 'Route 66 icon for the next generation of explorers'.

Completed in August 2007, Pops Arcadia covers 5,500sq ft.

The building features a cantilever design that provides shelter to the gas pumps. Here, the large overhang works aesthetically and functionally.

Covering the entire floor-to-ceiling windows are rows and rows of differently-coloured soda bottles. Step inside and visitors are met with an American diner-styled interior, plus a souvenir shop.

All image credits to Scott McDonald © Hedrich Blessing, courtesy of Elliott + Associates Architects