Green Parking Facility

Posted by Miss Cellania in Architecture on April 14, 2008 at 8:05 pm


450_leedgarage1

The new parking garage at the Sant Monica Civic Center is stunning, and it’s on its way to becoming LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, too!

A solar photovoltaic array on the roof provides shade for top level parking and on-site renewable energy. The materials used in construction were recycled and finished with low-VOC paints and finishes. The building envelope utilizes low-e glazing to decrease heating and cooling loads and the mechanicals are energy efficient. A storm-drain water-treatment system helps reduce tainted runoff from directly entering the hydrosphere and greywater harvesting provides for landscaping and on-site facilities.

The garage has spaces set aside for electric vehicles, and offers free bike parking. However, Inhabitat points out that a “green” parking facility may be seen as an oxymoron, no matter how many environmentally-friendly features it has. Link -via Digg


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11 comments to "Green Parking Facility"

  1. jessleigh
    April 14th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    I love it when everyday buildings and objects turn into art, despite the obvious oxymoron.

  2. DrJones
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    You spelled "leet" wrong ;)

    That thing looks sweet! I wanna park there!

  3. Alannah
    April 14th, 2008 at 9:56 pm

    Regardless of what the building is used to house, it's great to see some effort.

  4. NeuroGirl
    April 14th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

    I'm torn between this being beautiful and being an eyesore. I've seen it in person, and the colored lights are very bright, very Vegas. During the day it's just fine (the building is white and the colored lights appear pastel when they're not on), but at night it's a little much.

  5. otterly
    April 15th, 2008 at 12:13 am

    When I saw that pic I said before I read the post, "That must be Santa Monica!" LOL Kinda Ugly, but not enought to hate... Sums up Santa Monica pretty well.

  6. Dolly
    April 15th, 2008 at 11:00 am

    The city-owned parking garage here in downtown Tucson is also green -- here's a quote from the brochure:

    With a fully automated payment system and round-the-clock security, it is Tucson's first 24-hour parking structure. The facility’s power consumption is
    supplemented with solar panels that provide 50Kw of electricity and shade to vehicles on the rooftop. The on-line system is tied directly into the
    City’s power network minimizing waste of unused solar energy. The architectural design replicates a southwestern art deco prevalent in the downtown area and identified in the City’s master plan. The historic
    fabric of the site was respected by tying in design and artifacts of the original Levy’s building. The covered arcade provides protection from the Arizona sun and brings foot traffic along the retail/commercial
    establishment.

    Plus, it looks very cool.

  7. CheeseDuck
    April 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    Heh. Cool.

  8. M.Christian
    April 15th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    Just wanted to share that I just reposted this on Oragnic Mechanic ...

  9. Jonathon Nierengarten
    April 15th, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Nice parking structure. With Tesla now producing electric cars, this structure's electric car parking should be getting put to use by LA's elites pretty quickly...

  10. manik
    April 16th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    I work with a lot of companies helping them to meet the LEED standards for certification. Some people might think it is oxymoronic to park fossil fuel burning cars in a "green" building, but the simple fact is that these types of buildings, along with factories and office buildings, are not going away. Our "developed" countries and economies need them to feed the machine. The more you can do to each property to make it environmentally friendly the better it is not only for the environment and health, but operating cost and assett value. A lot of property managers and plant managers see the initial overhead of an upfit and don't consider the savings in monthly heating and cooling costs and electricity, not to mention tax benefits and zoning allowances. People should get used to this type of thing, it's only goint to get more and more popular if not obligatory.

  11. Jonathon Nierengarten
    April 28th, 2008 at 11:58 am

    Manik, well said.


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