The most innovative parking structures around the world
The covered car park: a loveless structure that is as necessary as it is unpopular. It can be easy for architecture to reflect non-whimsical nature, but sometimes, in the midst of all the mediocrity, a beautiful design comes through.
Airport parking Looking4.com relaunched its World’s Coolest Parking Lot Award, first released in 2013, which showcases some of the most innovative parking structures from around the world. Below is the list of the 10 selected buildings. Which one do you think deserves to win the award?
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Project descriptions via looking4.com:
Brisbane Airport Kinetic Parking (Australia)

Designed by American artist Ned Kahn, the exterior of this eight-story parking lot is made up of 118,000 suspended aluminum panels that appear to ripple when the wind hits it. The innovative design also provides natural ventilation for the interior.
Multi-storey Victoria Gate (Leeds, UK)

The bustling multi-story urban car park is located in Leeds’ Victoria Gate Shopping Center, valued at £ 165million, and is inspired by the architecture of the city’s history. The twisted aluminum fin cladding creates a box spring pattern emphasized by the shadows generated.
Parking Garagenatelier (Herdern, Switzerland)

This exclusive car park, designed by the Swiss company Peter Kunz Architects, has only enough space for eight vehicles. The concrete cubes are embedded in the sloping mountain side, creating a juxtaposition of nature and geometric concrete structures.
Saint Luc University Clinics (Belgium)

Made from natural materials, the parking lot is designed to be as welcoming as possible to visitors to the nearby hospital. The ‘canyon-wall’ offers an abundance of light, even in the basements, as well as natural ventilation for its 985 cars.
Parking AZ Sint-Lucas (Ghent, Belgium)

This open-concept car park is spread over the space of two buildings, each surrounded by white metal balustrades with thousands of small geometric perforations. Exclusively native flowers on different levels help brighten up the space.
Parking Quick Parking Morelli (Naples, Italy)

Located in the center of Naples, close to the main tourist attractions, the car park built inside an existing cave with a historic tunnel that connects 2 different parts of the city. The car park is built on seven levels and accessible by three tunnels.
2KM3 in Saint Gervais (Mont Blanc, France)
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Underground parking with a striking difference, 2KM3 is dedicated to contemporary urban art. Its name acts as an abbreviation for the wall / ceiling space measurement given to a dozen international artists to decorate in their own unique styles (2,000 m³).
Sinking of a multistage ship (Seattle, United States)
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The unique shape of this multi-storey car park, with bridges sloping in the opposite direction of the hill, gives it the name “Sinking Ship”. The four-story garage was part of a neighborhood revamp in the ’60s, in front of the Smith Tower and the old Seattle Hotel.
RAI Congress Center (Amsterdam)

With a capacity of 1,000 cars, the building also serves as a flexible space for conventions and exhibitions. A pair of 30-meter spiral ramps with blue LEDs around the curved edges illuminate the building with an eye-catching helix-shaped entrance and exit.
Al Jahra Court automatic parking (Kuwait)

With 2,314 spaces, this car park holds a Guinness World Record for “largest automated parking lot”. The bays designed by Robotic Parking Systems Inc. save more than 3 times the space of a normal parking lot, with a recovery time of the car of approximately 177 seconds.