theurbancity

Parking Lots

A picture of downtown I took sometime. If this parking lot was tall buildings instead, then where would we able to see the skyline like this? I guess in the middle of the street.

Downtown Los Angeles has a lot of surface-level parking lots. I always thought they were a waste, but honestly, sometimes they give a feel of open space amidst all these tall buildings. What if they were filled with buildings instead?

So last year, or the year before (time flies), I went to see Don Shoup talk about parking. I never knew parking was such a complex thing - so much money, politics, space is involved in parking. Parking plays a large part in fueling our consumptions - think about it, whenever you go plan a trip to the movies or something, you think “where can I park? is it free?”

Anyways, an article that I read yesterday got me thinking about some ideas he had about parking. This article is about 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage in Miami. $65 million, “cutting edge” architecture, store, penthouse… weird. But the main point is that this parking garage is an attraction rather than a ugly concrete mess that most parking lots are. In fact, they had a Sex and the City 2 party here (i can only imagine how horrendous it was) and people want to have weddings here? W-T-F.

Here’s the link:
For $65 Million, Miami Garage Has Party Space, Boutiques, Camel 

And a pic:

From: 1111 Lincoln Road 

So I remember Shoup talking about parking garages as serving more than cars.

For example, the top can be a park or open space (no one wants to park on the top floor anyways), and the bottom floor can be surrounded with shops at the street level. That doesn’t sound that bad at all. 

Also, instead of giving every building a parking lot or parking space, just have a few parking spaces (large ones), with multi-use, around the periphery of downtown or an urban core. This way, people drive here, park, and walk to do everything else. I mean let’s face it, we are not willing to give up our cars just yet!

Shoup is also a big advocate of paid parking. Get rid of free parking! People will be discouraged to park, and the money (a lot of money) that is made can help fund redevelopment plans.

Honestly, I was a little scared of this part. Firstly, because I do NOT want to pay for parking ever (I hate doing it, especially at malls or movie theaters where I know if I park 2 blocks away, there is free street parking… but it’s 2 blocks away…). And second, how will I get around - by bus? Nah, it’s so inconvenient. I mean I take the bus to work, but at night? On the weekend? It took me 2 hours to get from USC to UCLA once. Uh yeah, I can drive there in 15 minutes - no thanks.

Anyways, some cool examples of parking garages I just saw on the net.

Tokyo, Japan:

Everywhere in Tokyo - compact space. From: http://www.photopassjapan.com/ 

Solar use of space that wouldn’t otherwise be used. From http://www.sanyo.com/

Wolfsburg, Germany:

It’s for VW but there’s similar structures in Japan. This one is just pretty. From http://blog.sellsiusrealestate.com/

Miami, FL:

I didn’t know but Miami has a lot of cool examples of parking garages!

Ballet Valet Parking Garage and Retail. From http://www.intransitionmag.org/

Bentley Bay Condo. From http://www.treehugger.com/

Santa Monica, CA:

And a local example - green building in a parking system that encourages walking in the core (3rd Street Promenade). Santa Monica Civic Center Parking. From http://www.inhabitat.org/