Our city has matured to the point where parking structures make economic sense, unfortunately our ordinance is silent on parking structure design/layout. We have a site where a structure is proposed without end islands, even though end islands are a standard requirement for "parking facilities" per our ordinance. The developer has said they're not needed, yet we contend that end islands are essential for defining circulation, establishing turn movements and giving safe sight distances -- just like in a surface lot. Can someone tell me whether there's a compelling reason why we should not require end islands in a parking structure? Thanks!
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Parking Structure Design 2
- Thread starter NoviEngr
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I would think it depends on the layout of the structure. Most parking structures seem to flow around a central core (or several column lines depending on size). This should tend to define the flow.
Look at the plans for each level. See what defines the flow. It will likely be intuitive in comparison to a wide open parking lot.
Look at the plans for each level. See what defines the flow. It will likely be intuitive in comparison to a wide open parking lot.
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- #3
TDAA... you're correct.
Some ramblings...
I've been involved with maybe 30 or so parking structures including the functional design of them. The Site usually determines the size of the parkade and location and street traffic flow mainly determine entrance and exit requirements and depending on the site, can have an influence on the size. The intended use also has a bearing on the design and the loading. For commercial (shops, etc.) useage, it is important that people can exit the facilities quickly realizing that traffic flow is distributed with some peak periods. For office buildings it's less important that people exit as quick, but the peak flows are generally greater... and you have to be able to able to merge with existing traffic without disrupting it... also any exiting traffic cannot block other traffic either on the street or within the parkade. The useage often determines the layout and the efficiency in particular if retention of vehicles for exiting is required. There are likely several texts written about parking garage design. Parkades are [/b] almost never [/b] cost effective and is often integrated with other projects to offset the costs or as parking for snivel servants.
There are a myriad of design issues that have to be balanced and compromised. In addition to the structure and thermal effects and corrosion, there are matters of fire resistance, spatial separation, exiting, layout of supports, type of supports, ventilation, etc.
About 10 or 15 years back, for a proposal, I did up a short paper on parkade design, it's half a dozen pages long... I'll see if I can dig up the diskette it's stored on... I likely have it and it should be readable... but I also have several thousand diskette to sift through... it's not a bad thing to have handy. It addresses many things: ramps, corrosion, ticket spitters, guards, loads, exiting (conventional, express, pedestrian and vehicle), signage, traffic marking, etc. Some of the material is dated but most info is timeless...
I'm not sure of the context of your end islands and depending on the layout, they may be unnecessary... usually the only raised portions are at stairs, elevators, and at vehicular exits.
Dik
Some ramblings...
I've been involved with maybe 30 or so parking structures including the functional design of them. The Site usually determines the size of the parkade and location and street traffic flow mainly determine entrance and exit requirements and depending on the site, can have an influence on the size. The intended use also has a bearing on the design and the loading. For commercial (shops, etc.) useage, it is important that people can exit the facilities quickly realizing that traffic flow is distributed with some peak periods. For office buildings it's less important that people exit as quick, but the peak flows are generally greater... and you have to be able to able to merge with existing traffic without disrupting it... also any exiting traffic cannot block other traffic either on the street or within the parkade. The useage often determines the layout and the efficiency in particular if retention of vehicles for exiting is required. There are likely several texts written about parking garage design. Parkades are [/b] almost never [/b] cost effective and is often integrated with other projects to offset the costs or as parking for snivel servants.
There are a myriad of design issues that have to be balanced and compromised. In addition to the structure and thermal effects and corrosion, there are matters of fire resistance, spatial separation, exiting, layout of supports, type of supports, ventilation, etc.
About 10 or 15 years back, for a proposal, I did up a short paper on parkade design, it's half a dozen pages long... I'll see if I can dig up the diskette it's stored on... I likely have it and it should be readable... but I also have several thousand diskette to sift through... it's not a bad thing to have handy. It addresses many things: ramps, corrosion, ticket spitters, guards, loads, exiting (conventional, express, pedestrian and vehicle), signage, traffic marking, etc. Some of the material is dated but most info is timeless...
I'm not sure of the context of your end islands and depending on the layout, they may be unnecessary... usually the only raised portions are at stairs, elevators, and at vehicular exits.
Dik
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