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The Sleekest, Coolest Parking Garages
By Arian Campo-Flores, WSJ.com
A rendering of the ultramodern Collins Park
garage in Miami Beach, Fla.
Rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid, the celebrated London-based
architect known for her sinuous designs, has
created dazzling museums, concert halls and
railway stations across the globe. So what has
she decided to tackle next? A municipal parking
garage in Miami Beach.
"I've always been fascinated by garages," Ms.
Hadid says. "I've always liked this idea of
bringing the street into a building and making
that into an urban space."
She has company. Miami Beach has become
a magnet for high-end architects intent on
rethinking what the often drab, utilitarian parking
garage can be. In 2010, Swiss firm Herzog &
de Meuron completed a towering, airy parking
structure in the heart of South Beach that has
won international acclaim. Seven blocks east,
Frank Gehry created, as part of his New World Center concert hall, a steel-mesh garage that is illuminated at night by multicolored LED
lights. A few blocks south sits Mexican architect Enrique Norten's recently finished garage, featuring a taut, white concrete facade pocked
with perforations like a punch card.
Next up: Ms. Hadid's $12.5 million, city-financed garage in South Beach's Collins Park neighborhood; a parking and retail complex by
Miami-based firm Arquitectonica in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood; and a planned development near the beach by Dutch architect Rem
Koolhaas's firm, OMA, that is expected to include a parking garage, possibly topped by a restaurant.
South Beach is also slated for three new automated parking garages designed by ADD Inc Miami that are believed to be the first of their
kind in Florida. After drivers drop off their cars in a bay, thin robotic platforms will slide underneath, lift them up and whisk them away to a
parking spot.
For drivers, the normally humdrum experience of parking gets a dash of flair. Simon Parra, a part-time resident of the city, refuses to
park his black Chevy Suburban anywhere but the Herzog & de Meuron garage at 1111 Lincoln Road. "It's a work of art more than a garage,"
he says. "Everywhere you look, there's a view."
He doesn't mind paying a premium for the experience. The parking rate at 1111 Lincoln Road, $4 an hour, is more than double the rate
at the municipal lot a block away.
Herzog & de Meuron's creation, part of a $65 million project, has gone the furthest in revolutionizing traditional notions of a garage. "Our
building is not designed to be a garage," says owner and developer Robert Wennett. "It's designed to be a civic space."
The structure - with thin concrete slabs at irregular heights and no exterior walls, leaving vehicles on open display - is more than a place to
stash cars. It features luxury retailers at the street level, a glass box housing a clothing store on the fifth floor and a soaring space with
stunning views on the seventh floor that can be rented for events - all connected by an internal staircase that spirals up like a DNA helix. A
few hundred people a day wander in to explore, Wennett says, and the seventh-floor space has hosted weddings, yoga classes and a
Lexus commercial.
In some ways, the architectural ferment today harks back to the early 20th century, when garages were beautifully designed by
well-known architects, says Shannon Sanders McDonald, author of "The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form."
By the 1970s, though, "they became cost-driven and functional and ugly," she says. Not until the late 1980s and 1990s did architects
grapple once again with how to incorporate garages into the urban environment.
Miami Beach was at the forefront then, too. Stocked with architectural gems, including Art Deco and Miami Modern buildings, the city wanted
to ensure that its parking structures "became urban assets rather than urban albatrosses," says William Cary, assistant director of the
Miami Beach planning department.
New World Center garage
This parking garage at the New World Center
in Miami is appropriately artistic.
Photo: New World Symphony
Frank Gehry designed this steel-mesh garage
that is illuminated at night by multicolored LED
lights as part of his New World Center concert
hall in Miami Beach, Fla. The city has become a
magnet for high-end architects intent on
rethinking the often drab parking garage.
Herzog & de Meuron's garage
Herzog & de Meuron's garage worthy of a party
in Miami.
Photo: Alberto Tamargo/MBeach1, LLLP
Herzog & de Meuron's garage at 1111 Lincoln
Road. The garage features luxury retailers at the
street level, a glass box housing a clothing store
on the fifth floor and a soaring space with
stunning views on the seventh floor that can be
rented for events - all connected by an internal
staircase that spirals up like a DNA helix.
Park@420 garage
The cool Park@420 garage in Miami.
Photo: George Kousoulas
The Park@420 garage at Drexel Avenue and
16th Street, designed by architect Enrique
Norten. Light enters the perforations throughout
the day, sometimes spraying the floor with
bright spots, other times filtering in obliquely to
give the space a chapel-like feel. The exterior
also offers vivid displays, with palm trees
casting shadows on the white facade during
the day and interior lights producing a glow
at night.
Sunset Harbour garage
The stylish Sunset Harbour garage in Miami.
Photo: Arquitectonica
An artistic rendering of the planned Sunset
Harbour garage, a parking and retail complex
on Bay Road in Miami Beach, designed by
Arquitectonica.
Copyright 2012 © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE.
Do not reproduce without citing this source
The Sleekest, Coolest Parking Garages
By Arian Campo-Flores, WSJ.com
A rendering of the ultramodern Collins Park
garage in Miami Beach, Fla.
Rendering: Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid, the celebrated London-based
architect known for her sinuous designs, has
created dazzling museums, concert halls and
railway stations across the globe. So what has
she decided to tackle next? A municipal parking
garage in Miami Beach.
"I've always been fascinated by garages," Ms.
Hadid says. "I've always liked this idea of
bringing the street into a building and making
that into an urban space."
She has company. Miami Beach has become
a magnet for high-end architects intent on
rethinking what the often drab, utilitarian parking
garage can be. In 2010, Swiss firm Herzog &
de Meuron completed a towering, airy parking
structure in the heart of South Beach that has
won international acclaim. Seven blocks east,
Frank Gehry created, as part of his New World Center concert hall, a steel-mesh garage that is illuminated at night by multicolored LED
lights. A few blocks south sits Mexican architect Enrique Norten's recently finished garage, featuring a taut, white concrete facade pocked
with perforations like a punch card.
Next up: Ms. Hadid's $12.5 million, city-financed garage in South Beach's Collins Park neighborhood; a parking and retail complex by
Miami-based firm Arquitectonica in the Sunset Harbour neighborhood; and a planned development near the beach by Dutch architect Rem
Koolhaas's firm, OMA, that is expected to include a parking garage, possibly topped by a restaurant.
South Beach is also slated for three new automated parking garages designed by ADD Inc Miami that are believed to be the first of their
kind in Florida. After drivers drop off their cars in a bay, thin robotic platforms will slide underneath, lift them up and whisk them away to a
parking spot.
For drivers, the normally humdrum experience of parking gets a dash of flair. Simon Parra, a part-time resident of the city, refuses to
park his black Chevy Suburban anywhere but the Herzog & de Meuron garage at 1111 Lincoln Road. "It's a work of art more than a garage,"
he says. "Everywhere you look, there's a view."
He doesn't mind paying a premium for the experience. The parking rate at 1111 Lincoln Road, $4 an hour, is more than double the rate
at the municipal lot a block away.
Herzog & de Meuron's creation, part of a $65 million project, has gone the furthest in revolutionizing traditional notions of a garage. "Our
building is not designed to be a garage," says owner and developer Robert Wennett. "It's designed to be a civic space."
The structure - with thin concrete slabs at irregular heights and no exterior walls, leaving vehicles on open display - is more than a place to
stash cars. It features luxury retailers at the street level, a glass box housing a clothing store on the fifth floor and a soaring space with
stunning views on the seventh floor that can be rented for events - all connected by an internal staircase that spirals up like a DNA helix. A
few hundred people a day wander in to explore, Wennett says, and the seventh-floor space has hosted weddings, yoga classes and a
Lexus commercial.
In some ways, the architectural ferment today harks back to the early 20th century, when garages were beautifully designed by
well-known architects, says Shannon Sanders McDonald, author of "The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form."
By the 1970s, though, "they became cost-driven and functional and ugly," she says. Not until the late 1980s and 1990s did architects
grapple once again with how to incorporate garages into the urban environment.
Miami Beach was at the forefront then, too. Stocked with architectural gems, including Art Deco and Miami Modern buildings, the city wanted
to ensure that its parking structures "became urban assets rather than urban albatrosses," says William Cary, assistant director of the
Miami Beach planning department.
New World Center garage
This parking garage at the New World Center
in Miami is appropriately artistic.
Photo: New World Symphony
Frank Gehry designed this steel-mesh garage
that is illuminated at night by multicolored LED
lights as part of his New World Center concert
hall in Miami Beach, Fla. The city has become a
magnet for high-end architects intent on
rethinking the often drab parking garage.
Herzog & de Meuron's garage
Herzog & de Meuron's garage worthy of a party
in Miami.
Photo: Alberto Tamargo/MBeach1, LLLP
Herzog & de Meuron's garage at 1111 Lincoln
Road. The garage features luxury retailers at the
street level, a glass box housing a clothing store
on the fifth floor and a soaring space with
stunning views on the seventh floor that can be
rented for events - all connected by an internal
staircase that spirals up like a DNA helix.
Park@420 garage
The cool Park@420 garage in Miami.
Photo: George Kousoulas
The Park@420 garage at Drexel Avenue and
16th Street, designed by architect Enrique
Norten. Light enters the perforations throughout
the day, sometimes spraying the floor with
bright spots, other times filtering in obliquely to
give the space a chapel-like feel. The exterior
also offers vivid displays, with palm trees
casting shadows on the white facade during
the day and interior lights producing a glow
at night.
Sunset Harbour garage
The stylish Sunset Harbour garage in Miami.
Photo: Arquitectonica
An artistic rendering of the planned Sunset
Harbour garage, a parking and retail complex
on Bay Road in Miami Beach, designed by
Arquitectonica.
Copyright 2012 © AMBIENTE MAGAZINE.
Do not reproduce without citing this source
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