Parking Design Manual
Within This Page. Parking as part of an overall transportation system is one of the crucial issues of our times.
As the number of automobiles increases exponentially around the world, the need to house them in close proximity to destinations creates a challenging design problem. The parking facility or lot must foremost deal with the —as in providing for safe and efficient passage of the automobile and driver. This is a very complex challenge as automotive, engineering and traffic issues relative to site locations must be integrated to create the appropriate solution. Therefore designing the parking facility requires an of many professionals. Parking has often been reduced to the construction of the most minimal stand-alone structure or parking lot without human, or integrative considerations. This has given parking a poor public perception and has frequently disrupted existing urban fabric.
However, many architects, engineers, and planners have envisioned and constructed far more complex, aesthetic, and integrative structures. This should be the goal of good parking design. Building Attributes Although parking facilities can take many forms as stand-alone or part of a mixed-use structure, self-park or valet, and automated in urban settings, all parking facilities should seek to meet the following basic criteria: Planning Planning for parking facilities is a complex activity that requires the collaboration of many professionals for a successful outcome. Planning for the integration of parking in the urban environment must first start with the of. Transit Villages, Smart Growth and New Urbanist planning strategies are becoming popular and are being built in greater frequency around the county. They each address the movement and storage of cars in various ways that combine residential use with many other building types and other forms of transportation.
Functional Requirements The facility should account for the complex of the driver 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 facility 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 facility, 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 facility 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 facility occupancy, such as movie/theater goers, night use and residential use during the day. This can be calculated to the advantage of the facility owner and the community by eliminating the empty night facility syndrome., by choice of site and its relationship to walking, driving, other transportation linkages and good design opportunities. The operation and maintenance of a facility 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.
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 facility design.
New technologies are increasing the effectiveness in design and monitoring of these areas for concern. Is always a good method however detailed study is required in some areas and types of parking facility design to determine its effectiveness.
Parking Design Manual
Lighting is a crucial aspect of parking and type, placement, and quantity needs to be carefully studied to provide enough light for the users of the parking garage and not to spill out of the parking facility affecting surroundings. Structural Integration The efficient integration of structure is crucial to maximum functioning of the facility:. The parking facility 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 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 facility design. The surface of the 'floor' of the facility is important to slippage issues as one must always design a facility as a fully exposed building for the use by both the automobile and pedestrian. In very cold climates ice, snow, salt and other road chemicals must be taken into consideration. Some facilities 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 facility documents before the construction process., and are useful tools. And even are recognizing parking as part of a sustainable rating system. Has developed specific criteria for sustainable garages. Sustainable Designs This term discusses a set of interrelated issues that is very complex when applied to the parking facility typology.
The parking facility in and of itself is a better land-use choice in attempting to create a more sustainable built environment by increasing the amount of parking within a limited land area or making the connection to other forms of transportation reducing traffic and congestion issues. The actual construction of the facility can begin to meet the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® criteria, also refer to WBDG. Green Building Rating System criteria and several LEED certified parking facilities are now starting to appear.
New advanced material choices both in steel and concrete can contribute to the overall score while site sensitivity is also crucial. Lighting can be handled from both a passive design approach as well as technological solutions to just provide light when needed. And other passive devices can be integrated into parking facilities. While solar technology can also be used to handle energy needs. Also since the parking facility is such an integrative building typology many other solutions can contribute to sustainable design such as the now common for underground parking facilities; the green roof. Due to its integrative nature with other building typologies it can also help to support them in sustainable solutions designing the parking facility to become part of an energy generating solution.
The parking facility has often been at the forefront of design advancements due to its ability to be transformed both inside and outside to meet changing practical needs. As the automobile and our energy sources change over the next century, a symbiotic relationship between the building, the automobile, and energy can occur, each providing energy and power to each other creating a totally sustainable solution. The Sands Parking Garage is a free-standing facility without any spaces for human occupation. It integrates many sustainable practices such as: two 10,000 gallon cisterns that collect rainwater for landscaping, overhead canopies that use plants to provide shade on the roof, low-power LED lights, and soon to be installed solar panels. It soon will have charging stations for electric-hybrid cars and is part of the University's overall commitment to a Climate Action Plan for the entire campus.
Emerging Issues Transportation Parking facilities can serve an important role as a point of passage for the driver from the car to other forms of transportation due to their typical use as the first and last mile part of travel. This gateway role is often overlooked in the design process. In attempting to resolve the complex urban and environmental issues surrounding the use of the automobile in the United States, the parking facility can be seen as part of the solution for the integration of different transportation systems as a gateway or transfer point between systems, bus, train or air. These solutions are not historically new but are seeing a reemergence, as traffic in many urban areas becomes overwhelming and extremely time consuming. Mixed Use Parking facilities can also combine with other building types as mixed-use structures due to their very function.
Aesthetically pleasing designs as well as land use, safety and ease of use can be better accommodated with a mixed-use structure. Residential and Hospital use/facility combinations typically pose the most difficult design challenges due to fire code issues. An important emerging issue is addressing fire codes as related to mixed use when combining buildings with modern facilities. Transit Villages, Smart Growth, and New Urbanist planning strategies are becoming popular and being built in greater frequency around the county. They each address 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 in response to car bombings.
Risk, cost, and convenience must be factored in together in determining solutions. In certain mixed-use conditions all of these factors should be considered in determining the most appropriate solutions. Technology may eventually play a role in the screening of vehicles for explosives as they enter the parking facility. Pedestrian Access Although safety for the pedestrian has been a recent concern in parking facility design with adequate lighting and open stairwell and elevator design, the actual movement of the pedestrian through the facility has rarely been designed for. Several facilities are being designed to create a more pleasing environment with separate paths for the pedestrian from their cars to other circulation paths to specific points of destination. Vertical openings piercing the facility and landscape plantings within the structure are also creating a more open, safe, and inviting place to walk. By addressing the pedestrian within the facility and parking lots they can become a part of a total urban design system addressing our aging society and the important gateway issues of this type.
Technological Changes Advances in technology are changing the way we can enter and leave a facility. Technological advances in pay systems and movement access systems allow for easier flow of movement of pedestrians and automobiles.
Two are AVI - Automatic Vehicle Identification systems and LPR - License Plate Recognition Systems. There are also automated systems that direct your car to the open spaces available and pay-on-foot systems eliminating the booth. Mobile connections can now occur, so that your time of arrival to the facility is anticipated and your car is ready for you to drive, fees already paid for. Technological advances are also changing the way and where we work. With many people telecommuting from home the parking facility can provide the mixed use of small office locations to connect to a main office location downtown. Summit Grand Parc Photo Credit: Space Saver Parking Company and Mid-American Elevator Company In the United States there is a long history of mechanical facilities. Starting in the 1920's and again in the 1950's mechanical facility systems were built in this country.
Honolulu, Hawaii built systems in the 70's and 80's. Many automated systems have been built across the country typically in dense locations where the project and the site required an automated facility in order for the project to be a success.
This type of facility is now competitive in most locations with all but the most basic ramp facility to build, however certain site and/or building type relationships allow this type of facility to be even more economically feasible. Automated facilities have many aspects that reduce cost such as they require less lighting and ventilation since they have very little human use. There are many other advantages such as more cars per site area, no pedestrian access to the facility and few attendants. Many structural and functional types of automated mechanical systems exist: such as underground systems as part of the building foundation or above grade where they can match neighboring buildings in architectural appearance. The actual mechanisms and movement systems that carry the automobile vary with each manufacturer. Car stackers, stand alone systems, have been frequently used in the United States, particularly in dense urban areas to expand the parking capacity of parking lots.
They are now also found within parking garages to expand the capacity of a parking facility. 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 facility to be rented 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 rental structures many point to point uses could occur. Can offer insights into many alternative approaches.
Electric Vehicles The very first parking facilities in the early 1900's were for electric vehicles and charging stations were designed within the facility structure. With the current changes in vehicle design, the parking facility often accommodates electric vehicle use for personal automobiles as well as for campus and other vehicles required for particular owners and users of facilities. The way that a car is powered in the future will solve environmental issues but traffic and parking concerns will remain if we as a 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 moves through space will change with it. These design changes will have the power to modify the parking facility/building relationship.
What this means to future architectural design is a place for interesting study and back to the future ideas. New experiments in alternate fuels for vehicles will also impact parking facility design.
Smaller city vehicles are now entering the market, and along with the urban planning issues of designing communities as walkable integrating electric vehicles such as MIT CityCar into the transportation mix a safer more accessible environment can be created for all. New Forms of Movement As the automobile is changing so are new movement technologies appearing that will allow us to move through space in new ways.
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), now known as Automated Transit Networks, although it has been around for over 40 years and is still functioning at West Virginia University in Morgantown is now starting to reappear in designs across the world. Heathrow airport opened to the public the most advanced version of PRT. These small car-like driverless vehicles are traveling point-to-point providing safer, more accessible, faster movement directly to your destination. A new elevator system can travel horizontally as well as vertically allowing for greater use of the elevator shaft and potential to create safer access and egress especially in tall buildings. Driverless vehicles are now emerging onto our highways and will impact parking in ways that are currently being explored. These emerging technologies could change the way we design our cities, towns, and buildings to create safer, more environmentally friendly spaces and places due to their scale and ability to interface with alternative sustainable power sources.
Bicycle Facilities The integration of the bicycle as an alternative means of transportation is finding a place in parking facility design, as special places designed for the storage and retrieval of bicycle can easily be accommodated within facility design. In many communities across the country, bicycles are becoming a popular mode of transportation. While areas within facilities are accommodating the safe storage of bicycles and many storage systems exist, the facility itself needs to spatially address the different needs of a bicycle driver. The smaller scale and slower speed of the bicycle, along with concentrated pedestrian traffic requires different spatial relationships and design considerations of separation of man and machine. Separate multi-story and automated bicycle facilities can be found in many places around the United States, starting on the west coast and now Millennium Park in Chicago and Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The Parking Facility as a Community Building Type. Sherman Oaks grocery store parking. Photo Credit: David Vogel: Parking Design Group The Parking Facility has become a community building type that the majority of us use every day. This building type can be designed to address the role that it plays as the entry and exit place to our cities, towns and buildings. As the vehicle continues to change the building type has the opportunity to integrate even more seamlessly into the urban fabric opening up new design opportunities to create community places and spaces. Aging of the Population—Mobility for All 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 a part such as with vehicles on smart highways and GIS mapping devices.
As well as the changing automobile which can drive and park itself opens up new mobility options for many. These new technologies can also improve mobility, driving and parking for everyone.
Relevant Codes and Standards. —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.
Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. Local Codes such as the City of Chicago-check your local jurisdiction.
Local Zoning Ordinances—check your local jurisdiction. National and local Fire and other codes as referenced Major Resources WBDG Guides & Specifications Applicable to most items listed within the area. Organizations. —A newly formed association to advance the cause of automatic and mechanical facilities.
—An advocacy organization for the parking industry. —An advocacy organization for the parking industry. —An advocacy organization for the parking industry. United States Department of Transportation and State and Local Transportation Agencies. Many related industry organizations such the steel, concrete, construction, engineering, transportation and architecture have their own advocacy organizations and web sites with information on parking facilities issues. Publications This is a short list of publications and not at all complete, as this topic has been receiving a great deal of research and interest in the last several years.
Please contact all related industry organizations for their most up to date publications for design applications. The Aesthetics of Parking by T.P.
Chicago, IL: American Planning Association, 1988. The Architecture of Parking by Simon Henley, New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, Inc, 2007. The Car in 2035: Mobility Planning for the Near Future by Kati Rubinyi, Ed.
New York, NY: Actar, 2013. The Dimensions of Parking by the Urban Land Institute and National Parking Association. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2000. The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup, Chicago, IL: American Planning Association, 2005. Lots of Parking by John A. Jakle and Keith a. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2004.
Metropolitan Parking Structures: A Survey of Architectural Problems and Solutions by D. New York: F.A. Praeger, 1965. Open-Deck Steel Framed Parking Structures-A Design Aid by Emile Troup, P.E. And John Cross, P.E.
Parking by Robert Weant and Herbert S. Eno Transportation Foundation, 1990. Parking by G.H. New York: Reinhold, 1958. Parking 101: A Parking Primer by Ronald W. Fredericksburg, VA: International Parking Institute, 2001.
Parking: A Handbook of Environmental Design by J. The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form by Shannon S. Urban Land Institute, 2007.
Parking Management Best Practices by Tod Litman. Chicago, IL: APA Planners Press, 2006. Parking Management-The Next Level, by Tim Haas, Ed. Fredericksburg, VA, International Parking Institute. Parking Reform Made Easy by Richard W. Washington DC, Island Press, 2013.
Parking Selected References Information Packet #327 by the Urban Land Institute. Engine maintenance manual for a cub cadet 1045. Washington, D.C.: Urban Land Institute, 2000. Parking Spaces: A Design, Implementation, and Use Manual for Architects Planners and Engineers by Mark Childs. New York: McGraw Hill, 1999. Parking Structures: Planning Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Repair Editor Anthony P. Publisher Springer Science & Business Media, 2001. Parking: The Parking Handbook for Small Communities by J.D.
Washington D.C.: Institute for Transportation Engineers; National Main Street Center; National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1994. Precast Prestressed Concrete Parking Structures: Recommended Practice for Design and Construction by the PCI committee on Parking Structures, and PCI Committee on Parking Marketing & Promotion.
Chicago: Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, 1997. Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century by William Mitchell, Chris Borroni-Bird and Lawrence Burns, Boston, MA: MIT Press, 2010. Rethinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking by Eran Ben-Joseph, Boston, MA, MIT Press, 2012. Sustainable Parking Garage Design and Management: A Practitioners Handbook, National Parking Association and International Parking Institute, 2014. Others.
(BRIK)—an interactive portal offering online access to peer-reviewed research projects and case studies in all facets of building, from predesign, design, and construction through occupancy and reuse.