Somebody school me on parking garages...

[craftsy21]

These things boggle my mind... who came up with the design of these things, i mean they pack so many cars in there and there's like all these differentdirections and every turn looks exactly the same but it's not.

You could seriously lose your car in one, permanently, if they weren't marked and everything. I drive around in them trying to figure out exactly howthey're patterned and can't figure it out.. i know the one main way to the top, but i get lost in my head when i try to think about the "out"way having parking stalls going downhill too...

Anybody else just amazed/confused by them?

 

[the natural mystic]

N' are you high? I was coming in here with a legit answer too.

 

[youngdipset20]

This Guy

 

[onetruesoul]

^

dude, what are you on?

 

[wstcoastgotti]

N' are you high? I was coming in here with a legit answer too.

 

[hediondo19]

Do you really need to be 'schooled' on parking garages? I feel like its pretty self explanatory.

 

[703 hwy]

Yea, this dude is on something serious

Pass that son...

 

[craftsy21]

aiyo - check this out

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/automobiles/25PARK.html

click this link inside of it for slideshow of pictures...

javascriptop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/02/24/automobiles/20070224_PARK_SLIDESHOW_index.html','20070224_PARK_SLIDESHOW', 'width=750,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')


These dudes are on some next level **** with their garages... that's wassup

 

[eutum]

^^^looks inefficient. Like what if more than one person wants to get their car? Itll make a frikin line

 

[jpap348]

^^that looks dope and seems like a good idea but like dude said if there's more than 1 person who wants to get their car it'll get real backed up

 

[dirtylicious]

Parking as part of an overall transportation system is one of the crucial issues of our times. As the number of automobilesincreases exponentially, the need to house them in close proximity creates a challenging design problem. The parking garage or lot must foremost deal with theFunctional/Operational - as in providing for safe and efficient passage of the automobile. This is avery complex challenge as automotive, engineering and traffic issues relative to site locations must be integrated to create the appropriate solution.Therefore designing the parking garage requires an integrated design approach of many professionals.Parking has often been reduced to the construction of the most minimal stand-alone structure or parking lot without human, aesthetic or integrative considerations. This has given parking a poor public perception and has frequentlydisrupted existing urban fabric. However, many architects, engineers, and planners have envisioned and constructed far more complex, aesthetic, and integrativestructures. This should be the goal of good parking design.

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Hermosa Beach Parking Structure
(Courtesy of Gordon H. Chong & Partners Architecture)
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BUILDING ATTRIBUTES

Although parking garages can take many forms as stand-alone or part of a mixed-use structure, self-park or valet, and automated inurban or rural settings, all parking garages should seek to meet the following basic criteria:

Functional Requirements

The garage should account for the complex spatial needs of thedriver and the automobile:

• The size, height, and turning radius of current automobiles as well as past and future trends of automobile size and statistical quantity must be taken into account these are called parking geometries.
• There are many ramp design configurations and different ones are appropriate for the primary purpose of the facility to insure that your intended use is compatible with ramp design.
• The streets surrounding the garage and their traffic flow must be taken into consideration when planning entrances and exits and deciding on ramp designs.
• The entrances and exits are very important to the smooth functioning of the garage, with the type of use again determining the length from the opening and placement of the entry booths, as well as the quantity of entrances and exits.
• The type of equipment and the necessity of a booth and office are also determined by the garage use.
• Zoning issues require the number of spaces for parked automobiles. The designer must work within local codes to meet these requirements.
• In mixed-use projects there has been shared parking documenting how different users can maintain full garage occupancy, such as movie/theater goers, night use and residential use during the day. This can be calculated to the advantage of the garage owner and the community by eliminating the empty night garage syndrome.
• Optimizing site potential, by choice of site and its relationship to walking, driving, other transportation linkages and good design opportunities.
• The operation and maintenance of a garage is very critical. Revenue control equipment and other issues related to the smooth functioning of the garage must be taken into account during the design process.
• Provide for appropriate work space for the staff, such as cashier and monitoring equipment.
• Provide an area or room for the storage and maintenance issues. This area should be heated/air-conditioned and contain a mop sink.
• Accommodate technological tools for future upgrades of operational systems and facility expansion.
• Plan for a back up power system.
• Ventilation is an issue within some types and some areas of parking garage design. New technologies are increasing the effectiveness in design and monitoring of these areas for concern. Natural ventilation is always a good method however detailed study is required in some areas and types of parking garage design to determine its effectiveness.

Structural Integration

The efficient integration of structure is crucial to maximum functioning of the garage:

• The parking garage is typically an exposed structure and must be designed to withstand all aspects of environmental conditions.
• There are ideal structural bays that allow for maximum number of parking spaces and flow of automobiles dependent upon site and structure.
• Cast in place concrete, pre-cast concrete and structural steel can be used for the structural design.
• Typical construction issues such as natural hazards in the location of construction apply and compound the solutions in designing a structure that is completely exposed to the weather and constant movement from automobiles.
• Size and length of some structures compound the expansion and contraction issues already of key importance in garage design.
• The surface of the "floor" of the garage is important to slippage issues as one must always design a garage as a fully exposed building for the safe use by both the automobile and pedestrian.
• In very cold climates ice, snow, salt and other road chemicals must be taken into consideration. Some garages have snow chutes where snow can be plowed off of the top level of the structure. At minimum an area where snow can be piled must be designed into the structure or lot.
• Drainage and floor slope is very important, as ponding water can create long term maintenance problems.
• Peer review of the design is often used on garage documents before the construction process. Performance objectives, cost-effectiveness, and building commissioning are useful tools.

Safety and Security

Safety and security of the people using the garage are of paramountimportance:

• Open, glass stairwells and glass-backed elevators.
• Security devices such as video, audio and emergency buttons that call into the booth or local police station.
• Public telephones
• Eliminate potential hiding places, such as under open stairs.
• Handicap accessibility with vehicles close to stair and elevator cores having a direct path to key movement patterns of the garage.
• To avoid carbon monoxide build-up, air flow is adequately designed for through mechanical and/or natural ventilation.
• Non-slip floor surface
• Cleanliness
• Design for the points of intersection between man and the automobile for adequate safety of movement.
• Energy efficient lighting is very important in garage safety but can pose problems with spillage out of the garage onto neighboring communities. A balance between daylighting, interior lighting and exterior control can be addressed in many ways on the exterior design of the façade while providing adequate lighting within. Lights should be vandal resistant and easy to maintain.
• Use CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) whenever appropriate along with technological equipment.

Signs and Wayfinding

• Color-coding, numbering, visual cues, music, and even machines for marking your ticket with your exact location to locate your car for easy retrieval
• Locate signs in areas where driver can read in a timely fashion.
• Clear, simple, and direct messages.
• Floor coding can be useful
• Signage should locate all major internal pedestrian access points as well as external major roads and buildings.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics of garage design has become very important to communities across the country:

• Recently garage design has become part of an architectural style of the surrounding architecture, respecting the language of design and using the design process.
• The historic preservation movement was one of the key issues in garage design as garages were needed to revitalize dense older urban fabrics without destroying the architectural context. Many excellent examples can be found across the country solving these contextual issues.
• The Parking garage itself is now also part of the historic preservation movement as some older existing structures can and should be designated for preservation.
• The Parking Facility has played an important role in design evolution throughout its history often being the leader in many crucial design issues; it is truly a unique and important civic building. Perhaps one of the most important design laboratories of the 20th century it has become the gateway to our buildings and cities.

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Bryan Street Garage
(Courtesy of Carl Walker, Inc.)
[/td] [/tr][/table]

• Maintain the urban street front by having the sidewalk condition of the garage contain stores or provide a safe and pleasant walk experience.
• Using landscaping and changes in architectural materials forms, and scales to enhance the garage façade along the street. Use landscaping to shied and enhance parking lot design.
• Architecturally breaking down the scale of the large structure along its façade.
• Designing beautiful stairs and elevator cores to enhance the community and walking experience.
• Most costly solution is to "hide" the garage by placing below ground

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Left: Queensway Bay Facility
(Courtesy of International Parking Design, Inc. and Erhard Pfeiffer, photographer)
And Right:Landscaped rooftop of Northpark Town Center
(Courtesy of John Portman & Associates and Michael Portman, photographer)
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Integrated and Mixed-Use Design

Garages are often connected to other uses:

• The garage has always been a mixed-use structure combining and often connected with all other building types.
• Plan for any loading or unloading conditions required by mixed-use, so as not to interfere with garage traffic.
• Separate roofing and structural system for any human-occupied space within garage.
• Provide for simple and well-designed movement systems for pedestrian and automobiles.
• Many garages are combined with almost any use imaginable such as a playing surface on the roof requiring green architecture, so enjoy the possibilities of integrating a fully functional structure requiring many technological advances.
• Surface parking lots can be designed to become mixed-use plaza spaces.
• The garage has often in its history been part of a multi-modal system linking different forms of transportation.

Environmental Issues

The car in its' early years was the environmental savior of our cities and towns, eliminating animal waste and carcasses in our streets, part of thecause of many health and environmental hazards at the beginning of the century. But as their numbers and use have increased dramatically they have become partof the current environmental problems. New fuel sources for the automobile can eliminate these air pollution hazards and automobile manufacturers are workingon the solutions. Parking lots as large areas of paved surfaces contribute to warming trends in cities and have altered local weather patterns. Large areas ofpaving that have absorbed oils, fuels, road salts, and other materials contribute to problems in water runoff and pollution. Garages and parking lots need toaddress these issues exploring porous paving in lots and best practices of water run-off issues.

EMERGING ISSUES

Transportation
Parking garages can serve an important role as a point of passage for the driver from the car into a building or the urban fabric due to their typical use asthe starting and/or ending point of travel by the automobile and its driver. This gateway role is often overlooked in the design process. In attempting toresolve the complex urban and environmental issues surrounding the use of the automobile in the United States, the parking garage can be seen as part of thesolution for the integration of different transportation systems as a gateway or transfer point between systems, bus, train or air. These solutions are nothistorically new but are seeing a reemergence, as traffic in many urban areas becomes overwhelming and extremely time consuming. The integration of the bicycleas an alternative means of transportation is finding a place in parking garage design, as special places designed for the storage and retrieval of bicycle caneasily be accommodated within garage design. In Europe, separate multi-story and automated bicycle garages can be found.

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[/td] [td]
Center Street Park and Ride
(Courtesy of Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck, Architects and Assassi Productions[emoji]169[/emoji]2002)
[/td] [/tr][/table]

Mixed Use
Parking garages can also combine with other building types as mixed-use structures due to their very function. Aesthetically pleasing designs as well as landuse, safety and ease of use can be better accommodated with a mixed-use structure. Residential and Hospital use/garage combinations typically pose the mostdifficult design challenges due to fire code issues. An important emerging issue is addressing fire codes as related to mixed use when combining buildings withmodern garages. Transit Villages and New Urbanist planning strategies are becoming popular and being built in greater frequency around the county. They eachaddress the movement and storage of cars in various ways that combine residential use with many other building types.

Safety
An emerging issue with safety is a threat/vulnerability assessment in response to therecent 9/11 attack and previous car bombings. The current standoff distance in airport design is 300' and at or within this distance the parking garagemust be studied for alternative construction techniques due to terrorism, with strengthening as part of the solution. However risk, cost, and convenience mustbe factored in together in determining solutions for other situations. In certain mixed-use conditions all of these factors should be considered in determiningthe most appropriate solutions. By selecting against the size of the vehicle and type of explosive used, the garage can be designed not to allow this size ofvehicle within the garage or limit its use to certain areas. Technology may eventually play a role in the screening of vehicles for explosives as they enterthe garage.

Technological Changes
Advances in technology are changing the way we can enter and leave a garage. Technological advances in pay systems and movement access systems allow for easierflow of movement of pedestrians and automobiles. Two are AVI - Automatic Vehicle Identification systems and LPR - License Plate Recognition Systems. There arealso automated systems that direct your car to the open spaces available and pay-on-foot systems eliminating the booth. Soon, there will be mobile connectionsso that your time of arrival to the garage is anticipated and your car is ready for you to drive away, fees already paid for. Technological advances are alsochanging the way and where we work. With many people telecommuting from home the parking garage can provide the mixed use of small office locations to connectto a main office location downtown.

Pedestrian Access
Although safety for the pedestrian has been a recent concern in parking garage design with adequate lighting and open stairwell and elevator design, the actualmovement of the pedestrian through the garage has rarely been designed for. Several garages are being designed to create a more pleasing environment withseparate paths for the pedestrian from their cars to other circulation paths to specific points of destination. Vertical openings piercing the garage andlandscape plantings within the structure are also creating a more open, safe, and inviting place to walk. By addressing the pedestrian within the garage andparking lots they can become a part of a total urban design system addressing our aging society and the important gateway issues of this type.

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Left: San Mateo Government Center Parking Structure
(Courtesy of Watry Design, Inc.)
And Right: Disney Resort Guest Parking Structure Anaheim, California
[/td] [/tr][/table]

Automated Mechanical Garages
In the United States there is a long history of mechanical garages. Starting in the 1920's and again in the 1950's mechanical garage systems were builtin this country. Honolulu, Hawaii built systems in the 70's and 80's. Two new automated garages have opened in Hoboken, NJ and Washington, D.C. Thistype of facility is more expensive in most locations than a ramp garage to build, however certain site and/or building type relationships allow this type offacility to be economically feasible. There are many advantages such as more cars per site area, no pedestrian access to the garage and few attendants. Manystructural and functional types of automated mechanical systems exist: such as underground systems as part of the building foundation or above grade where theycan match neighboring buildings in architectural appearance. The actual mechanisms and movement systems that carry the automobile vary with eachmanufacturer.

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[/td] [td]
Summit Grand Parc
(Courtesy of Space Saver Parking Company and Mid-American Elevator Company)
[/td] [/tr][/table]

Car Sharing
One idea that is taking hold is the idea of point to point use of the car. You would rent the car from home to work where it would be left in a garage to berented by someone who can use the car during the day. The return trip home would function in the same way. Depending upon the access of these parking rentalstructures many point to point uses could occur. The Center for Neighborhood Technology can offerinsights into many alternative approaches.

Vehicle Changes
The very first parking garages were for electric vehicles and charging stations were designed within the garage structure. With the current changes in vehicledesign, the parking garage often accommodates electric vehicle use for personal automobiles as well as for campus and other vehicles required for particularowners and users of garages. The way that a car is powered in the future will solve environmental issues but traffic and parking concerns will remain if we asa culture continue to depend on the single occupancy vehicle. But, as the fuel source changes, the design of the car will also evolve and the way it movesthrough space will change with it. These design changes will have the power to modify the garage building relationship. What this means to future architecturaldesign is a place for interesting study and back to the future ideas. New experiments with fuelcell technology as well as other some other fuels could impact parking facility design.

As the automobile changes the parking garage and related code issues can also now to begin to change to address the new movement realities. Other movementdevices are also appearing of various shapes and sizes which will challenge the interior design and flow of the parking facility as well. The parking structureand roads may even become more integrative with buildings as these new changes take place such as in some interesting historical and modern speculativeexamples where roads, automobiles, and parking merge.

Bicycle Garages
In many communities across the country, bicycles are becoming a popular mode of transportation. While areas within garages are accomodating the safe storage ofbicycles and many storage systems exist, the garage itself needs to spatially address the different needs of a bicycle driver. The smaller scale and slowerspeed of the bicycle, along with concentrated pedestrian traffic requires different spatial relationships and design considerations of separation of man andmachine. We are now seeing bicycle parking facilities in the United States starting in California and with one recently opening up in Millennium Park inChicago.

Sustainable Designs
This term discusses a set of interrelated issues that is very complex when applied to the parking garage typology. The parking garage in and of itself is abetter land-use choice in attempting to create a more sustainable built environment by increasing the amount of parking within a limited land area or makingthe connection to other forms of transportation reducing traffic and congestion issues. The actual construction of the garage can begin to meet the LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System[emoji]174[/emoji] criteria and a new Federal GreenConstruction Guide for Specifiers will soon be available, also refer to Sustainable DesignObjectives. New advanced material choices both in steel and concrete can contribute to the overall score while site sensitivity is also crucial. Lightingcan be handled from both a passive design approach as well as technological solutions to just provide light when needed. While solar technology can also beused to handle energy needs. Also since the parking garage is such an integrative building typology many other solutions can contribute to sustainable designsuch as the now common for underground parking garages the green roof. Due to its integrative nature with other building typologies it can also help to supportthem in sustainable solutions designing the parking facility to become part of an energy generating solution. The parking garage has often been at theforefront of design advancements due to its ability to be transformed both inside and outside to meet changing practical needs. As the automobile and ourenergy sources change over the next century, a symbiotic relationship between the building, the automobile, and energy can occur, each providing energy andpower to each other creating a totally sustainable solution. Water conservation,sun control shading and other passive devices can be integrated into parking facilities.

Aging of the Population
With the aging of the population the driving habits of Americans' are changing. In order to accommodate these changing needs technology can start to play apart such as with vehicles on smart highways and GIS mapping devices. As well as the changing automobile which may soon park itself. These new technologies canalso improve driving and parking for everyone. Along with the urban planning issues of designing communities as walkable and integrating electric vehicles suchas GEM into the transportation mix for everyone.

RELEVANT CODES AND STANDARDS

International Building Code - a new code that when adopted by local jurisdictions will cover the entire country. Always check for most recent edition approved by each jurisdiction with every code listed.

BOCA National Building Code

Standard Building Code

Uniform Building Code

National Building Code of Canada

Americans with Disabilities Act

Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (pubs@access-board.gov)

Local Codes such as the City of Chicago - check your local jurisdiction

Local Zoning Ordinances -check your local jurisdiction

 

[craftsy21]

dirty just shut this thread down... ya'll ain't seeing his parking game right now.

 

[BANLEU]

thats some futuristic type@#%*. as for the line thing it says it can get you your car i under 3 minutes, which is pretty fast considering how long it takes tofind a spot in regular garages and then walking back to it and leaving.

 

[sfgr415]

I hate when parking garages have those tall curbs around the entrance/exit because its so easy to curb your wheels.

 

[we get money]

They're AWESOME buildings to own...you can charge ridiculous rates and have little to no overhead...one security guard, a cleaning crew...straight $$$$$$$

 

[offbad]

i hate the screechign noises inside parking garages

 

[DonRafa]

Originally Posted by The Natural Mystic

N' are you high? I was coming in here with a legit answer too.

Seriously though Dirty just #%*! this down (I didn't readall that

).

 

[rawsheed]

I've heard stories of ppl getting lost in car garages and never being able to find their cars, then they died

 

[pianoman52]

i was just gonna say the AASHTO green book, but then i scrolled to see dirty's thread. lol

 

[craftsy21]

Originally Posted by RawSheed

I've heard stories of ppl getting lost in car garages and never being able to find their cars, then they died

woooord.

Just think if like they made a parking-garage type structure for everything in life... nah mean? like in a way, we all kinda live in parking garages of oursoul.. feel me?

 

[xxlil ryanxx]

Originally Posted by Craftsy21

Originally Posted by RawSheed

I've heard stories of ppl getting lost in car garages and never being able to find their cars, then they died

woooord.

you guys are crazy

 

[eaglestg]

You been watchin Seinfeld?

 

[craftsy21]

You been watchin Seinfeld?
since i was about 8 years old my man...

Not really the inspiration for this post though, in all honesty.. although did you know that the parking garage in that episode was a set they built on stage? They used mirrors and different colored markings on the wall, along with changing cars around to create the illusion of being in a real garage.. pretty damnimpressive if you ask me.

 

[eaglestg]

Originally Posted by Craftsy21

You been watchin Seinfeld?

since i was about 8 years old my man...

Not really the inspiration for this post though, in all honesty.. although did you know that the parking garage in that episode was a set they built on stage? They used mirrors and different colored markings on the wall, along with changing cars around to create the illusion of being in a real garage.. pretty damn impressive if you ask me.


Yeah, I heard about the mirrors and markings on the 'Inside Look' when your watching the DVD.

Aside from parking garages

Seinfeld is