Put aside your assumptions about how multi-storey car parks look. In 2023 transport hubs and car parks can be attractive. They can blend harmoniously with their surroundings and even enhance them.
Appearance will become a more significant factor in car park design as new ideas about their function and where they are best located evolve. Establishing a parking facility as part of a transport hub or as a key component of a sustainable multi-modal transport network will inevitably raise the profile of good aesthetic design.
This is where modern car park construction and design come in.
Blending in
Adopting a modular approach opens the door to a vast range of cladding options. At Uxbridge Business Park our designers worked closely with My Dn-a Architecture to develop bespoke cladding to echo the aesthetics of the surrounding buildings. The expanded parking facility Octavius installed is attractive and unobtrusive.
Whatever the local vernacular, the car park design can be adapted to fit in perfectly.
Managing scale
Scale is a key factor in the visual impact. Thoughtful design coupled with technology such as the Octavius modular parking system can optimise parking density so that the footprint and height needed to deliver the required number of spaces can be reduced.
When the Institution of Engineering and Technology needed 200 additional parking spaces their original design was for a traditional design and four decks. Using the flexibility and long clear spans of our modular parking system our designers were able to deliver 209 spaces using a single deck and a marginally increased footprint.
The visual impact was significantly improved and the neighbouring building benefitted from more daylight than the original four deck design would have allowed.
Improved sustainability
To further enhance the appearance and sustainability a ‘green wall’ was designed using the open weave cladding to entwine climbing plants. This complemented the secure cycle storage and multiple EV charging points that were incorporated to encourage sustainable modes of transport.
If you want to take a fresh look at your options for adding car park capacity, take a look at our resource centre or contact Barry Goss (barry.goss@octaviusinfrastructure.co.uk).
