Responding to demands of people and place, this innovative multi-use parking garage incentivizes redevelopment by addressing parking demand, providing for flood management, and strengthening connections between neighborhood places.
The need for parking had been the primary redevelopment challenge for a once thriving neighborhood retail and entertainment district. A traditional approach to structured parking was cost-prohibitive, and as the district’s larger and more meaningful role emerged through implementation of the Heart of the Arts plan, it became imperative that any parking facility also connect and strengthen relationships between the district and neighborhood places and enhance the district-wide pedestrian experience. Nearby residents and the City also sought a solution to seasonal flooding plaguing the area for years.
From these challenges emerged a highly innovative, maximally functional, and aesthetically significant multi-use parking garage that responds to expressed needs and incentivizes redevelopment. Located beneath the parking facility is a 1-million cubic square foot water detention basin with automation designed to permit in-flow and out-flow of floodwaters based upon upstream and downstream water levels. Most intriguing is the space between the garage and its neighbors, where building design elements meaningfully connect the structure to its surroundings through multiple pedestrian access points, ample and elegant greenspaces, public art, and perron stairs that gently invite people to a courtyard and the retail and entertainment opportunities of the district.
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