Parking-garage architecture is enjoying a comeback. As architects rethink the car, once a symbol of technological progress, car parks are no longer expected to be heavy, cavernous or labyrinthine. Contemporary parking structures can have real architectural value. A modern car park should be bright, legible and even colorful. Some projects stand on the border between art and design. Here are 10 of the world’s most interesting garage designs, shortlisted by Stress Free Airport Parking.
Modern garage design and architecture – the world’s best car parks
1111 Lincoln Road in Miami, United States, is a project by Herzog & de Meuron. The architects set out to create a concrete structure that honestly serves its main function while becoming part of the surrounding urban landscape. The result is a modern car park with expressive open forms that has become a Miami attraction.
Spectacular parking – Millennium Point Car Park, Birmingham, United Kingdom
This car park has a contemporary facade of blue acrylic panels that gives the building a light, cube-like effect. The project was designed by Birmingham City Council’s in-house team.
Michigan Theatre in Detroit, United States
This Detroit car park is, as the name suggests, housed in a former theater from 1929. After the theater closed, engineers converted the building rather than demolishing it. The strange mix of practical parking structure, grand classicism and crumbling ruin has made it internationally famous.
Michigan Theatre serves as a car park
Modern Veranda Car Park in Rotterdam
Veranda Car Park in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is a project by architect Paul de Ruiter. Its defining features include a perforated aluminum-and-glass facade, curved lines and a central void that creates a strong architectural image inside and out. At night, the building is effectively illuminated.
Ribbon windows emphasize the effect of the facade
Charles Street Car Park, Sheffield, United Kingdom
The garage was designed by Allies and Morrison and earned the nickname "the Sheffield Cheese Grater." Its facade is made from identical angular elements set at different angles, creating lively reflections of light.
Plaza de Canovas Car Park, Spain
Teresa Sapey’s design combines architecture and graphic design with confidence. Color, lettering and lighting give the garage its own character, while the wayfinding graphics help visitors move through the space more easily.
Ballet Valet Garage, Miami, United States
This building is completely covered with vegetation, softening its visual impact on the Lower South Beach streetscape in Miami. Retail spaces occupy the level below.
Modern car parks – Cordova Parkade, Vancouver, Canada
The steel facade incorporates granite architectural elements salvaged from an earlier structure on the site.
Celestins Car Park, Lyon, France
The underground car park is designed around light. To achieve this, the architects created a large central opening and installed a rotating mirror.
Perspective as wayfinding – Eureka Tower Car Park, Melbourne, Australia
Graphic signs guide visitors through the building. Perspective drawings create an environmental graphic effect, making the parking areas brighter, clearer and more welcoming.
via ArchDaily
Peter Dark
Yolande A. Bow
Lincoln Matheson
miranda_shida
Anna Lohan
