Parkx

Premise

Parking spaces are nothing more than a paradox. It’s a parcel of land that’s so vacant but so crucial that it drives how a city is perceived and functions. 

It’s a common reality of how building plans are only approved with adequate or surplus units of these vacant spaces. It’s no surprise our cities look like more parking and less of life at any time soon. This shows how parking spaces have Zero function but have a very inflated value associated with them but something’s about to that will surely alienate their presence in the coming decades. 

 

Driver-less

Cars are currently operated by humans, who require generous carriageways - visible demarcation and a lot more services (like ventilation, lighting, etc.) to actually function the way they need to. But what if humans are not driving at all? 

A future of driving where people not driving is closer than ever. The two parameters that drive this massive shift in the auto industry are 1. Autonomous driving - This enables cars to behave like hyper-accurate machines that have surgical precision on-street and 2. Transportation as a Service - Shifting in ownership modes of cars is showing signs of decline where people are realizing services like Uber and Lyft are a cheaper alternative to things.

 

Issue:

Zero Ownership

Assume a situation - the city becomes like a huge mega skyscraper - vast in the expanse. So vast; that only lifts get you across the floor above. The zero ownership of transportation is a scenario when transportation across the city is so smooth - that nobody has to own cars and cars roam around the city like lifts reaching various levels on a skyscraper.

And as decreasing ownership approaches - the thought comes to what will happen to so much human-centric parking available around the world? Will there be dead spaces of nothingness? Will these make our cities unsafe? There will be a new kind of parking spaces rolled out for self-driving cars that will not need light, or natural ventilation - while cars can be stored underground/above ground through narrow lifts.

These unusually large parking spaces will create zero functional activity and we will have a surplus of land back at us again.

 

 

Brief of the competition

Brief - As the transportation industry today is becoming way too uncertain, it is logical to ask how will a future with self-driving cars possibly looks like? There is a tremendous motion to fix this massive problem, as the entire world is designed for driver led cars, but no single point where to begin. 

The design problem: Repurpose an existing parking space in a possible future when it gets completely abandoned because of driverless cars. How will the unlocked space contribute again to the society? How will this functionless parking of unprotected land create new value for the city?

 

 

Properties

Access: Availability and connection to all the road networks.

Availability: Omnipresence around the world over.

Surface: Various synthetic and paved surfaces across places.

Sizes: A standard size of about 5m x 2.5m universally available for cars.

Configurations: Parking spaces are usually arranged in universally accepted order.

Dynamic: The parking pool available in the city will be dynamically managed.

 

Objectives

The objectives laid below grow by priority from left to right - based on quantitative aspects to more qualitative aspects. The objectives to create a better parking tower here are as follows:

Contextual: How can we deliver an effective and operational parking tower of the given capacity.

New Value: How can a parking tower be more conducive and friendly for city it inhibits.

Evolutionary: How can an evolving parking tower make our cities better? Better transport? Lower transport, etc.

 

Downtown Aerial Shot, Los Angeles, United States

Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, as well as a diverse residential neighborhood of some 58,000 people. A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is also part of Central Los Angeles. Downtown Los Angeles is divided into neighborhoods and districts, some overlapping. Most districts are named for the activities concentrated there now or historically, e.g. the Arts, Civic Center, Fashion, Banking, Theater, Toy, and Jewelry districts.

 

Site

636 Maple Ave Garage, Downtown LA

The proposed site is located on the Maple Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90014, United States. Currently, the site predominantly contains parking spaces and a handful of restaurants. It is surrounded by a dense urban environment with structures as old as the 19th century and contrasting skyscrapers constructed recently. It also has numerous tourist spots like Broadway theaters, museums and the finest range of retail stores. The place is trying to meet the parking demands by using stack parking solutions, which is very small in amount considering the demand for parking in the precinct. While solving the immense parking demand through an evolutionary parking tower, designers can question how can we make a functional typology of parking tower contribute more than just parking to Los Angeles.

• Site dimensions: 80m x 30m
• Area: 2400m2
• Height limit: 120m (393ft)
• Site coordinates: 34°02'34.1"N 118°14'53.5"W
• FAR - Ground Coverage - and other conditions are kept unrestricted for this challenge.

 

Judging Criteria

The entries will be judged by an international jury of the competition - To be announced: