Discover these architectural parking garages

Architectural parking spaces, similar to bridge design, represent a typology that encompasses different worlds. Urban infrastructure, independent design statements and effective storage of beloved (and valuable) design objects – these often neglected structures are part of many modern cities. Large in nature and therefore sometimes unwieldy, the car park serves an important function in urban planning and our commitment to creating city centers that are easy to explore on foot.

When it comes to their design, parking lots can be very expressive structures, with several 20th-century examples to be found in the history books of modernist architecture. Much loved by the architectural community but ultimately demolished, the Welbeck Street car park and its gridded façade in central London were designed by Michael Blampied and Partners in 1971. The capital’s 1969 Minories Car Park in Tower Bridge is another example made from raw concrete.

Meanwhile, private case studies of the genre can be a treasure trove of automotive design and an architectural showcase for rare collections. Small museums with fascinating examples of automotive and transportation design, as well as boutique architectural parking lots, can represent luxurious follies in the playgrounds of those privileged enough to own one. At the same time, however, they provide fertile ground for architectural experimentation – and here we present some of the best current examples of all kinds.

Visit Sundersea Sunderland, one of the architectural park parks in our survey

Architectural car parks across the UK

Sundersea Sunderland by Tonkin Liu

(Image credit: David Valinsky Photography)

A new state-of-the-art multi-level architectural car park has just opened in the north of England, courtesy of London-based architecture firm Tonkin Liu. Sundersea Sunderland is an important part of its region’s urban infrastructure, but it also aims to become a beacon of placemaking – literally lit from within at night and showcased with its fascinating perforated screen facade.

It also has high standards for sustainable architecture; The green walls inside are home to around 50,000 plants, specifically selected to work with the local climate and bring biodiversity to the area, while the car-free roof houses a rainwater harvesting system. Tonkin Liu worked on the project with a team of consultants, main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, car park systems company Goldbeck in Germany and façade builder Maple in Birmingham.

Garage Deluxe by Jonathan Clark Architects

The Garage Deluxe concept

(Image credit: Garage Deluxe / Jonathan Clark Architects)

Garage Deluxe is a private company owned by London-based studio Jonathan Clark Architects, a specialist in commercial interiors and bespoke residential design. Recognizing that customers who have accumulated more than a triple garage’s worth of collector cars may need a more secure place to store them, Clark and his team founded Garage Deluxe to facilitate automobile purchases.

The concept is simple: an underground car park that can be equipped to the same level and quality as a gym or spa area in the basement. Constructed as either a precast or cast-in-place structure, the most efficient method of carving out such a large volume is the cut-and-cover method rather than extensive tunneling (although this is always an option depending on site conditions). .

Preston Bus Garage by BDP (and John Puttick Associates)

A Time ⋅ A Place: An Exploration of Automotive and Architectural Design: Image of Preston Bus Station and Blue Car

(Image credit: Daniel Hopkinson)

Yes – technically this isn’t just a “parking lot”. But it’s a place for cars with a rooftop parking lot, and in fact you’d be hard-pressed to find an icon of British Brutalist architecture outside London This is as immediately recognizable as Preston bus station. The project, originally completed in 1969 to a design by BDP, is a listed building but was in need of a refresh; There’s John Puttick Associates, which won an open competition for its prestigious restoration work in 2015. As a result, the concrete icon was relaunched in 2018 after the young London office carried out a thorough facelift.

Architectural parking lots in the rest of the world

Feana Park by OMA, Miami, USA

Abstract buildings next to the sea

(Image credit: TBC)

When the Faena-designed three-building complex with cultural, retail and park components was created by the Faena company GRANNYOpening on November 27, 2016 in Miami, the $1.2 billion reinvention of the Mid-Miami Beach neighborhood was completed. Alan Faena, the Argentine who envisioned the project and invested “his heart and all his energy,” predicted at the time that it would spark “a new renaissance” in Miami Beach and beyond, and a vibrant new place for interaction between them North and South America would offer.

At the heart of the project is the Faena Forum, which consists of two adjacent volumes: a cube and a cylinder. The Bazaar and the Faena parking lot are on the left, while across Collins Avenue are the Faena House by Foster + Partners (right) and the Faena Versailles Classic (left).

Private parking lot by Morari Arquitectura, Morelia, Mexico

Mexican parking garage by Morari Arquitectura

(Image credit: Cesar Belio)

On the outskirts of Morelia, a central Mexican city known for its pink-stone colonial architecture, Morari Arquitectura designed a garage for a young tech entrepreneur to make parking as exciting as riding his Ducati Scrambler 900. The elongated concrete pavilion with Brutalist Peaks looks impressively space-age, but houses a very earthbound collection of machinery.

A personal passion project, the collection includes a rugged 1980s Jeep CJ-7, a Bentley Continental GT and a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. And the garage, designed as a gallery space for private viewings and the owner’s enjoyment is, combines exhibitionism with functionalism.

The Circus by Hitoshi Saruta by Cubo Design Architect, Japan

Inside a round, circus tent-shaped house in Japan

(Image credit: Koji Fujii / TOREAL)

The typical circus tent structure with its round shape, discrete repeating facets and stretchy nature served as the inspiration for this holiday home in Japanis Chiba Prefecture. Designed by architect Hitoshi Saruta TokyoStudio Cubo Design Architect-based home, aptly titled “The Circus,” was a commission for a car-loving client, conceived as a space where he could “spend time with cars.” Part residential, part private parking lot, the project is both visually impressive and extremely functional.

Recent Posts