A P H I L O S O P H I C A L DESIGN A P P R O A C H 
FOR A N ALTERNATIVE C O N C E P T FOR THE URBAN PARKING G A R A G E 

By 

L E U N G YEN C H O W 

B.Arch., University of Idaho, 1987 

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT O F 

T H E REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE O F 

MASTER O F A D V A N C E D STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURE 

in 

T H E F A C U L T Y O F G R A D U A T E STUDIES 

S C H O O L O F ARCHITECTURE 

W e accept this thesis as conforming 
to the required standard 

THE UNIVERSITY O F BRITISH C O L U M B I A 
February 1989 

© L e u n g Yen C h o w , 1989 



In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced 

degree at the University of British C o l u m b i a , I agree that the Library shall make it 

freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive 

copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my 

department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or 

publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written 

permission. 

Department of At2-CU'/TBC-WZ^ 

The University of British C o l u m b i a 
Vancouver, Canada 

Date f^e&HUM^f 

DE-6 (2/88) 



A B S T R A C T 

This thesis proposes an expanded conceptualization of traditional parking garages. It is of 

contemporary design practice to separate the activity of parking from that of adjacent 

buildings and places. D o i n g so results in parking structures being exclusive and without 

positive urban context. As a c o n s e q u e n c e , barren and often, hostile environs are created 

within these garages. The thesis identifies this practice as a contributor to a discontinuity 

of urban movement and activity. The thesis also identifies the contradictory nature and 

ineffectiveness of facade decoration. 

Through four propositions developed from a philosophical design approach, which draws 

primarily from the work of Heidegger, the thesis proposes to engage human awareness so 

as to supplement the utilitarian nature of the traditional garage c o n c e p t . It is suggested 

that doing so allows a positive environmental consciousness, and that active user 

participation can be elicited. It is also suggested that these propositions can potentially 

promote an integrity of construction and detailing, and that by overcoming the barren and 

hostile environs, a sense of civility and security can elevate the garage to a state of 

integrated function. Integrating the function of garages with those of other buildings can 

ii 



lead to a holistic use of site by facilitating urban continuity and, an architecture for garages 

richer in meaning than facade decoration. 

iii 



TABLE O F C O N T E N T S 

Abstract ii 

Introduction 1 

1. A U T O M O B I L E S A N D TRADITIONAL G A R A G E S : 5 
U R B A N IMPACT A N D R E A C T I O N 

Automobiles, 6. Utility as the design priority in 

practical garages, 10. Impact o n urban continuity, 16. 

Community and architectural reaction, 21. 

2. EXPANDING T H E C O N C E P T O F G A R A G E S 27 

Treasured objects and the expression of identity, 29. 

Driver perception and the quality of participation, 35. 

The inclusion of drivers/cars in architectural design, 39. 

3. INTEGRATED F U N C T I O N : P R O G R A M EXPANSION A N D TACTILITY 42 

Integrated function, 42. Expanded program, 43. 

Dwelling and the question concerning technology, 47. 

Tactile design, 56. Haptic perception and a 

human/mechanical dialogue, 63. Material joints, 73. 

Theoretical summary, 76. 

iv 



4. G O A L S A N D PROPOSITIONS 76 

Amenities for human inhabitation,83. Local orientation and 

building introduction, 85. "Place," 94. Integrity of 

building assembly, 98. Examples, 101. 

5. C O N C L U S I O N 106 

Notes I l l 

Sources 121 

Appendix A 125 

v 



A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T 

M y greatest debt I owe to Bill Bowler, G e o r g e Roberts, and Gregg Kessler. Their 

teachings during my attendance at the University of Idaho have spurred within me a desire 

to feel architecture. 

I also must acknowledge Ron Walkey for his sensitivity for the automobile. Sherry McKay 

for her prompt attention and expertise in communication, and William M c C r e e r y for his 

painfully correct criticisms. 

N o less deserving of thanks are John Biln and Clemens Pollok. Discussions with them 

have had an intensity and richness that has affected this and other of my pondering 

considerably. 

I am also grateful to the University of British C o l u m b i a for their financial support. 

vi 



I N T R O D U C T I O N 

The doing of architecture is predicated o n the premise that architecture is to address both 

the physical and psychological needs of human beings. Detail, finish, light, m o o d , 

metaphor, and symbolism must be considered in conjunction with practical requirements. 

In this way, the usability of a building can be both subjective and objective simultaneously. 

It is this coexistence of the subjective/objective which distances architecture from both 

construction and pure art. This intrinsic state of architecture though difficult to achieve 

possesses one identifiable goal: the construction of a building for a practical purpose, 

although a building rich in meaning so as to engage the imagination of anyone w h o might 

use it. For most urban building typologies, this is so. In view of this, it is o d d that there 

exists one very basic and ubiquitous building typology in which this is not the case. That 

building type is the garage. 

Parking garages are necessary buildings in urban areas. The reason is twofold: first, the 

vast majority of p e o p l e commute by automobile which creates a high demand for parking 

space, and two, the stacking of parking layers is the most economically attractive to 

investors due to high land prices. Thus, to maximize the return o n investment and to 

1 



a c c o m m o d a t e the demand for parking, multi-storey parking structures have proliferated. 

E c o n o m i c criteria remains the dominant influence and the standardization of form, 

materials, and plan in their construction has ensued. Consequently, many garages look 

and function alike and their c o n c e p t is one associated only with storage. 

These e c o n o m i c storage buildings are designed for maximum space efficiency. Being 

thus, garages d o not attend to the psychological needs of the p e o p l e using them and any 

consideration b e y o n d the s c o p e of life support and basic safety are not priorities. In 

garages, the extent to which their users can participate is limited to following directional 

signs to parking spaces. 

This thesis proposes to improve the quality of garage user participation. T o attempt this 

requires that architectural deliberations be granted to garages in the same intensity as they 

w o u l d be to other building typologies. This intensity could result in richer interpretations 

of garages and could stimulate a higher level of urban awareness for their users. Garages 

are worthy of such deliberations because they are public places that should serve as 

transitory connections between streets and the structures that garages serve. 

The thesis contests the priority set on pragmatism in garage design. Pragmatism, by 

definition, is not c o n c e r n e d with theory or ideas to which something like symbolism 

2 



belongs. Yet the seizing of pragmatism as the priority in garage design has unwittingly 

resulted in a very symbolic typology by default; contemporary garages symbolize 

structures d e v o i d of interest w h o s e urban contribution is limited to being ancillary storage 

bins for cars. The result has b e e n what the thesis refers to as a fracture of urban 

continuity. The thesis suggests that this as an unacceptable condition and p r o p o s e s an 

alternate way of conceptualizing garages. 

A philosophical design approach which draws primarily from the work of Martin H e i d e g g e r 

is d e v e l o p e d . This approach uses human experience to set in motion a building/user 

dialogue. Heidegger's p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l insights have already informed various 

architectural theorists such as Kenneth Frampton, and have influenced urban planning 

theorists such as Kevin Lynch, and artists such as Robert Irwin. Heidegger's views have 

also influenced the practicing profession as is evident in the current work of Phau/Jones -

Holt/Hinshaw, and as can be seen in the haptic architecture of Charles M o o r e . 

Heidegger's sensitivity of thinking about building, and how technology is e n g a g e d in a 

phenomenal relationship under the domain of dwelling has provided a general 

philosophical position from which various architects, artists, and other individuals have 

based their designs of built forms. As Heidegger's insights offer a general p h i l o s o p h y 

from which the design of any building can be conceptualized, this thesis has a d o p t e d his 

3 



philosophy as the starting point for an alternative conceptualization of the urban parking 

garage. 

The position recognizes the importance and necessity of practicality with regards to 

garages, but puts emphasis o n the quality of human experience. This allows the 

incorporation of parking into a higher level of participation in which an environmental 

consciousness and an urban c o n n e c t i o n can be made in a positive way. Physical elements 

such as site and climate, and non-physical c o m p o n e n t s such as history (indicating 

traditional use of site) and symbolism, must interact cohesively to establish a sense of 

permanence for the garage so that it can serve as a place of transition and thus facilitate 

urban continuity. It is not the intent of the thesis to glorify the car, but to integrate the 

experience of the driver into architectural strategies - strategies that can supplement the 

process of parking. With these supplements, the garage typology can d o more than 

merely provide ancillary concrete buildings for the storing of cars. 

From the philosophical position, the thesis generates propositions that, although not 

overtly prescriptive, are generative. They d o not prescribe an exacting solution, but 

rather, they e m b o d y architectural goals which are d e v e l o p e d from Heidegger's 

philosophy. They also reflect the views of various architects, theorists, and artists w h o 

have applied Heidegger's philosophy to built forms. As such, the propositions involve 

4 



theory concerning human experience as a whole p h e n o m e n o n . Being s o , they belong to 

a realm in which the subjective is the necessary compliment for the objective. 

M o s t literature o n parking structures is of a practical ilk, dealing with program, 

engineering, and maintenance. This has been discussed in the volumes of literature 

c o n c e r n i n g practical requirements - stall design, turning radii, clearances, atmospheric 

control, and the e c o n o m i c s of their construction, and will not be repeated here. A l o n e , 

they cannot bring about an architecture of garages; they require additional attributes that 

carry meaning and interpretation beyond operation. There is a scarcity of work addressing 

such attributes hence, the contribution of this thesis. 

The spirit of the usage of place in this thesis is meant to be associated with positive 

dialogue and a conscious environmental awareness. Garages are in fact, "places," but 

ones which currently possess negative association. 

Except where indicated, the illustrations within the thesis are by the author. 

5 



Chapter O n e 

A U T O M O B I L E S A N D TRADITIONAL GARAGES: U R B A N IMPACT A N D R E A C T I O N 

The o p e n i n g chapter is divided into four major parts: automobiles, utility as a design 

priority, urban impact, and community reaction. 

Automobiles 

T o understand the necessity and importance of the garage, a brief discussion of the 

automobile is useful. 

Although the birthplace of the automobile is Europe, by the late twenties, there were over 

twenty six million cars registered in the United States, o n e for nearly every five p e o p l e . 

During this time eighty percent of the world's motorized vehicles were in the U.S., largely 

because of Henry Ford's assembly line technique of automobile production. In 1915 

Ford's Highland Park factory (Detroit) could produce o n e thousand M o d e l Ts per day at a 

cost to the consumer of a modest $ 3 6 0 . 2 By the mid-to-late twenties, fifteen million Ford 

M o d e l T's had been built, one every ten seconds from the assembly line and in 1926 were 

6 



selling for $290. As early as the first quarter of this century, cars became so ubiquitous 

that in 1937 Robert and Helen Lynd would write in their Middletown in Transition, 

"ownership of an automobile has now reached the point of being an essential part of 

normal living."'* 

In this regard, the role of the automobile has not changed for sixty years. For the average 

p e r s o n , the automobile represents the largest monetary investment second only to the 

cost of a c c o m m o d a t i o n . The proliferation of the car since its advent has spurred the 

construction of interstate highway systems, increasing the magnitude of any individual's 

mobility. The car is the vehicle from which the vast majority of the population experience 

their environment. Henri LeFebvre states: 

"traffic circulation is o n e of the main functions of a society and, as such, 

involves the priority of parking spaces, adequate streets and roadways...it 

is a fact that for many people the car is perhaps the most substantial part 

of their living conditions."^ 

With the advent of private automobiles came a fundamentally different m o d e of 

environmental perception. A c c o m p a n i e d by a new dimension of personal i n d e p e n d e n c e , 

the geographic horizons of any individual using a car were increased dramatically. N o 

7 



longer were one's social contacts restricted to a single n e i g h b o r h o o d , and this 

i n d e p e n d e n c e from transit schedules meant new routes and adventure. In this way, its 

practical use has b e c o m e completely integrated into contemporary living and there can be 

n o denying the necessity for automobiles in North American lifestyles. 

With the advantages grew disadvantages. The increasing number of cars o n roadways and 

city streets led to traffic congestion and pollution. Traditional n e i g h b o r h o o d s were 

fractured and lost by a frenzied m o m e n t u m of indiscriminate road construction during the 

Urban Renewal of the fifties and sixties. It was not that these traditional n e i g h b o r h o o d s 

were of no use; the demand for unrestricted mobility and the euphoric liberative state of 

mind of which the car provided, simply outweighed any associated drawbacks. As a 

result, indiscriminate road construction was tolerated because of the expanded 

c o m m u t i n g range made possible by the car. A c o n s e q u e n c e of this expanded range was 

the deterioration of life in city cores. Suburban shopping centers proliferated, drawing 

business and activity away from the downtown sector. 

"The elevated superhighway systems, the most important legacy of 

visionary city planners to the postwar built environment, were conceived 

initially as a solution to traffic congestion o n local roads and urban streets, 

though many highways and freeways p r o d u c e d adverse e c o n o m i c effects 

8 



o n the quality of life in bypassed n e i g h b o r h o o d s and small town centers. 

Many superhighway systems built in the late forties, fifties, and sixties are 

now c o n s i d e r e d to have had a dehumanizing effect, a sentiment that has 

catalyzed a resurgence of interest in the random, small-scale vernacular 

architecture o n countless small-town strips, and roadsides. 

In architectural circles, Louis Kahn envisioned entire cities whose form and organization 

were dictated by the circulation of automobiles and submitted a design for Philadelphia 

indicating s u c h . I suspect his intention was to create efficient movement patterns, but 

o n e c o u l d also misinterpret his design as a car-as-master c o n c e s s i o n ; an environment 

where the p e o p l e in cities are subordinated to efficient traffic flow. O t h e r architects of 

this futuristic vision (Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Richard Neutra for example), 

like Kahn, envisioned entire cities and the Utopian planning of transportation systems in 

their respective designs, Project of City of the Future, 1925, Contemporary City for Three 

Million P e o p l e , 1921-22, and Rush City Reformed, 1920s-30s. The scale of these projects 

is staggering by contemporary standards and the garage systems of these designs appear 

n o more human than those of traditional design. 

Negative associations did not stem from only the use of the automobile; maintenance has 

been an inconvenience for car owners since the car's inception into society. Fuels and 

Kahn's proposal lor an automobile city. 
Philadelphia. Source: Architectural Review, 
August, I960: 135. 

9 



lubricants are messy necessities, adding to the perception that the maintenance of a car is 

something dirty, involving dripping oil and emitting noxious fumes. Further, to anyone 

not mechanically inclined, the car is something mysterious, to be expensively repaired only 

by experts. Body repair expense is a major factor in exorbitant automobile insurance 

premiums. 

After an explosive emergence into society, "the wholehearted approval and celebration of 

the motorcar gave way to more sober, critical, and negative assessments of its impact."^ 

I suspect that o n e resulting p h e n o m e n o n of these negative associations is that the use of 

an automobile is accepted as a necessary condition, but the automobile itself is regarded 

as a space and money c o n s u m i n g object, often dangerous, and to be hidden in pedestrian 

sensitive areas. I also suspect it is these negative associations which contribute to the 

practical design of garages. 

Utility as the Design Priority in Practical Garages 

North American garages up to the early Seventies reflected the negative associations 

mentioned above. C o n c e i v e d as buildings to store necessary but cumbersome objects, 

their architectural expression and execution were sterile. Their facades were insensitive to 

1 0 



n e i g h b o r h o o d context and their interiors barren. This tendency has persisted reflecting 

our recognition of only the practical uses of garages and cars. As a c o n s e q u e n c e of a 

society w h o s e tendency is to measure an object by its usefulness, utility has been a strong 

influence in the design of parking structures. To propose an alternate way of 

conceptualizing garages, it is first necessary to discuss the impact brought o n by the 

shortcomings of traditional garage design. 

Utility often precludes amenity. Such is the case with traditional parking structures, which 

are depressing and which suppress any interesting dialogue between garages and their 

users. Space within them is maximized for e c o n o m i c efficiency, and aside from affording 

basic life support and safety, little is provided. This is not to c o n d e m n pragmatic design; 

garages must store cars and we clearly require the basics for life support and safety. But 

with these as the only criteria in design, the idea of a positive environmental 

consciousness b e c o m e s impotent, and the possibility for an interesting interpretation of 

the building is suppressed. Moreover, some safety concerns (fire regulations, for 

example) are so prioritized that the already bleak character of garage environments can 

change from lifeless to hostile. Completely enclosed concrete stairwells (a response to 

fire c o d e s ) , many with narrow passage, are perceived as potentially dangerous areas for 

personal safety and are not welcoming. 

1 1 



As storage places, garages are dissociated with any specific place. That is, most parkades 

look and function alike giving them the characteristic of being interchangeable and 

neutral. This is anti-architectural according to a philosophical assumption which 

understands architecture to be the revelation of place, and which implies s o m e degree of 

uniqueness brought about by a surrounding context. A basic premise of architecture is to 

facilitate a dialogue between person and building, by response to site, and by using 

procession, symbolism, interpretation, deliberation, and civility. A further assumption of 

architecture can be thus stated: architecture's innate quality is to elicit participation so that 

p e o p l e may interact with their immediate environment without being completely 

separated from their other urban or rural surroundings. In garages, this separation is 

blatant and quality of user participation has b e e n reduced to following directional 

signage. The result is the experience of exclusion, a feeling that garages seem lacking. 

Rudolf Arnheim provides an accurate explanation: 

"...the environment is complete without him, nothing refers to him, needs 

him, calls him, or responds to him. This lack of external definition 

destroys the internal sense of identity, because a person defines the 

nature of his o w n being largely by his place in a network of personal 

relations."® 

1 2 



Arnheim describes this general c o n d i t i o n as empty and forlorn. The parking garage at Sun 

W a h Market in Vancouver's Chinatown has this emptiness. The parking is located above 

the street o n levels five through eight. The lack of an exterior pedestrian access to the 

parking levels clearly separates the driver from street level activity. A c c e s s is permitted 

through interior stairs and elevators only. This condition of abandonment is a 

c o n s e q u e n c e of excluding the users from the scheme of events, o r of including the users 

only to the point where their actions are completely determined by a p r e c o n c e i v e d 

intention, that is, parking. At this point, the users are processed by an operation, the 

operation being " p e r f o r m e d in a specified sequence and in accordance with specific 

r u l e s . " With this processing, Robert Yudell states that in such instance, the user "is n o w 

the object of an operation, not the subject of an a c t i o n . " 1 * * 

A condition of contemporary society is to believe that garages are where we rid ourselves 

of cars, and as such these storage buildings require no amenities. This wholesale dismissal 

corresponds to O s w a l d Spengler's s e c o n d necessary phase of life in civilization, a phase 

where creativity is given up for the organization and rigid processes of a m e c h a n i z e d 

dictum. M u m f o r d , assessing Spengler's "universal" explanation, refutes its correctness: 

" T h o s e w h o took Spengler's thesis seriously - and many w h o never heard 

of it accepted it in practice - were in effect preparing to commit suicide; 

A sense of abandonment at Sun Wah Market. 
Chinatown. Vancouver 

13 



for they were transferring meaning and value to only o n e part of the 

environment, to only one process and function, to only one aspect of the 

human personality. That part, [pragmatic] no matter h o w vastly o n e 

magnifies it or energizes it, can never b e c o m e an adequate substitute for 

the w h o l e . If technical achievements were alone capable of absorbing 

human interest and manifesting creativity, if the machine were in fact the 

only reputable source of value for m o d e r n man, that w o u l d mean that his 

biological and social and personal activities would all shrink and s h r i v e l . " 1 1 

It is of human nature to resist standardization which suppresses the potential for personal 

interpretation. Utility, with the maximization of efficiency as a premise, standardizes 

procedures and means. Utility alone therefore, is in conflict with the very essence of 

human nature. In architecture this pragmatic end is de-humanizing and o p p o s e s the 

premise of architecture whose e n d is to attend to the nature of the human being. Hence, 

utility has an originary lack and as Hannah Arendt has suggested in The Human Condition, 

"utility established as meaning generates meaninglessness. The garage, designed in 

this way can only be perceived as something usable, temporary, and ancillary to the point 

1 4 



of exclusion: 

" A s A d o r n o has indicated, o n c e under these demands of pure 

functionality, technology can n o longer be e x p e r i e n c e d , only operated -

resulting in our gestures b e c o m i n g brutal and precise, without deliberation 

or civility...Irregular sites are flattened by the bulldozer, eliminating all 

traces of the particular characteristics of the place, in order that it may 

efficiently a c c o m m o d a t e a maximized v o l u m e of universal space." 

T o avoid this undesirable state of architecture, whose equivalent in physics might be 

entropy zero, a supplement for utility is n e e d e d . This supplement in architecture can be 

attained by the use of metaphor, history, analogy, and e x p a n d e d program, all of which 

place practical use in a milieu of richer interpretations. This supplement is not inessential, 

o r superfluous: it is the necessary compliment to practicality in buildings because 

buildings, being to the service of human beings, must a c c o m m o d a t e the human will to 

resist universal standardization. In architecture, this c o n c e p t of supplement is the means 

by which the idea of the building itself is appropriated, read, which in turn establishes 

significance and the feeling of place. The seemingly exclusive roles of art and utility are in 

fact, symbiotic in architecture because architecture is to e m b o d y shelter in the widest 

sense: it protects us from the elements (physical refuge), but also gives us a reading filled 

Alley entrance, stained canister doors, garbage 
dumpster, dark recesses, all contribute to 
brutal ambience at US. Bank garage. 1st & 
Cherry. Seattle. 

15 



with personal identity and meaning that can also provide us with psychological sanctuary 

and imaginative journey. Implicitly, an architecture of the garage is only possible if its 

design extends b e y o n d the precise measure of e c o n o m i c efficiency. 

Impact o n Urban Continuity 

The n e e d for parking space has resulted in the establishment of the parking garage as a 

major urban building type. However, to meet the enormous demand for storage space, 

investors have c h o s e n to d e v e l o p parking garages with maximized efficiency and 

e c o n o m y . The ensuing impact that traditional parking garages have had on the city 

environment can be described as a fracturing of urban continuity. Urban areas are 

networks of destinations and connections - connections where transition between 

destinations occur. A n d although the destinations themselves may have quite differing 

characteristics, the context in which they are situated and c o n n e c t e d to each other, 

possesses a felt and understandable coherence. The context or coherence, might be 

qualified as global, holistic, or at a more urban level, civic. These destinations and 

connections are of differing scales, ranging from corridors between rooms, pathways 

between buildings, and streets between neighborhoods. In many cases, the connections 

1 6 



are simply the overlapping zones of adjacent places. Lynch describes this p h e n o m e n o n : 

[City] "elements are connected through an immense and intricate 

network, which can be understood only as a series of overlapping local 

systems, never rigidly or instantaneously linked, and yet part of a fabric 

without edges. Each part has a history and a context, and that history and 

context shift as we move from part to part. In a peculiar way, each part 

contains information about its local context, and thus, by extension, about 

the w h o l e . " 1 4 

Parking garages as they have been designed traditionally interrupt the continuum of which 

Lynch's passage implicitly refers. The overlap is non-existent. W e d o not enter garages 

for the explicit end of being processed into a parking spot. True, this is part of the 

inherent function of garages, but our goal or intended destination is not a oil-stained 

patch of concrete 2.4m wide by 5.5m long b o u n d e d by painted lines. The destination 

may be an office, apartment, shopping center, a medical facility. As p e o p l e move towards 

their intended destination, I suggest a mental image is created of what the place will look 

like u p o n arriving; and yet, the traditional design strategy for the garage inevitably causes 

an interruption of this image. Instead of arriving at the place previously visualized, arrival 

occurs via an ancillary concrete maze. 

1 7 



T o illustrate the counterpoint, consider a vestibule. A vestibule is an integral part of a 

building, that is, the vestibule can introduce the building to anyone who walks through it 

by revealing materials, construction, and history. Thus, by walking through a vestibule, a 

visitor has already embarked u p o n his destination. If designed sensitively, vestibules can 

contain what Lynch terms is "information about its local context, and thus, by extension, 

about the whole." That is, the vestibule is an architectural connection which joins the 

sidewalk with the building; its integrity is born from its role as a transition area within a 

larger continuum, that is, the immediate locale involving the street system and the 

building. Parkades and garages are currently d e v o i d of this architectural joining as they are 

spaces deliberately separated from the buildings they serve. They are designed as 

ancillary buildings with no overlapping qualities that would give to them a transitional 

capacity; they do not respond to site. A n d yet, they are the first spaces a commuter by 

car will experience when arriving at a destination. 

A sensitive response to site can achieve a number of qualities: one, it can root the garage 

to place; two, it can create a specific sense of place for the car and driver; three, it can 

integrate the activities of the garage with those of other buildings on the site; and four, it 

can reveal to the driver the organization of the site, and where important features may be. 

A n interesting example of this is Fraser Parkade o n U B C campus. The garage is situated in 

1 8 



a stand of evergreens and faces the gardens of the Asian Center. Respecting the lush 

vegetation, the garage has a low profile, e m p h a s i z e d by horizontal bands of concrete, 

stretching its width. M o r e o v e r , these bands have shelves o n t h e m where vegetation is 

allowed to hang over the face of the c o n c r e t e . O n e of these bands is a pedestrian 

walkway which connects the s e c o n d level of parking with the W e s t Mall. During the day, 

its low profile and vegetated setting complement the dark s h a d o w recesses characteristic 

to garage facades during the day. During the evening, the fluorescent glow filtering 

through the stand of trees gives the place a sense of warmth; it is somewhat reminiscent 

of the glow emitted from lumber mills of mountainous regions, or hydro-electric dams 

along the C o l u m b i a River in the d e a d of night. Fluorescent lighting and daytime dark 

shadows are two characteristics that make city garages uninviting, but by responding to 

site, Fraser Parkade has taken full advantage of t h e m . 

In a society that considers parking a necessary inconvenience, it is easy to ignore the 

considerable presence of urban parking garages. Therefore, a brief statistical diversion is 

in order. In Vancouver, a 1984 survey indicates that 50 per cent of all d o w n t o w n 

commuters use cars during peak h o u r s . 1 •* The same survey indicates that transit was not 

keeping pace with d e m a n d , and forecasts for the effect that the Light Rail Transit system 

will have, indicated still, a deficiency in transit supply. Thus, as traffic volumes increase, 

Sensitive response to site has taken full 
advantage of shadows and fluorescent 
lighting, two otherwise negative garage 
characteristics, Fraser Parkade. UBC, 
Vancouver. 

19 



the increase will be in the number of automobiles circulating in the core. C u r b space is 

heavily used during the day and saturated during the evening. The modal split of the 

transit/automobile ratio increases during the evening in favor of the car (approaching 

25/75), and since in several locations curb occupancy reaches 100 per c e n t , 1 ^ the 

remaining cars are forced to use parkades. However, there is a more important statistic. 

In the survey, a parking inventory was performed whose numbers have great implication. 

In the survey z o n e (comprised chiefly of the financial core, Castown, C h i n a t o w n , 

Robsonstrasse, and immediate peripheral areas) a count of 43387 parking spaces was 

17 

r e c o r d e d . O f these, 23873 spaces were spaces in parkades. Using a conservative 

allowance of 3 2 5 1 ® square feet per automobile (due to garage efficiency), the result is 

close to 7.6 million square feet of parking - which does not include curb or surface lot 

parking. This figure, compared to the 16.5 million square feet of office/commercial space, 

results in a staggering 32 per cent of that built space being occupied by parking - 32 per 

cent delegated to an area of non-descript and non-transitional space in an area where 

urban vitality is perceived to be most intense. These figures indicate the importance of 

more deliberating design. Receptive and integrated functions must be designed into 

parkades because the parking garage is where a natural transition should take place 

between street and building. A n d as the numbers indicate, their potential to strengthen 

or interrupt the continuity and activity of the urban environment cannot be ignored. 

20 



Community and Architectural Reaction to Practical Parking Garages 

Architectural development of the garage has been slow to evolve for three major reasons: 

the post war b o o m , the persistence of the negative or utilitarian associations with the car 

in the minds of planners and the public, and the oversight of the garage as a potential 

urban contributor. 

Construction of parking garages increased sharply during the years following W o r l d War II. 

O p t i m i s m and increased consumer purchasing power led to a high production rate of 

automobiles creating a large d e m a n d for parking space within cities. T o accommodate the 

growing demand, simple concrete parkades afforded investors a means by which to 

capitalize o n parking revenue. Garage design became an exercise in maximizing spatial 

and e c o n o m i c efficiency. It is apparent that the d e m a n d for parking space took 

precedence over any concern for what the building l o o k e d like and what impact it w o u l d 

have o n its surrounding areas. 

Another reason for the slow response to the architectural development of garages is the 

"gradual [my emphasis] rise of the automobile as a respectable cultural by-product [that] 

has been quietly happening for over a century," 1 ^ a s observed by Angelo Tito Anselmi, 

contributor to Automobile and Culture. The negative, sober assessments of the early 

2 1 



impact of the automobile have had a tenacious influence on planners and many architects. 

Ebeneazer Howard's Garden Cities clearly subordinate the activity of motorists, m u c h like 

Radburn does with its separation of the car from the pedestrian zones. Despite the 

necessity of and the benefits derived from the automobile, the inconvenience of its 

storage and maintenance has left a negative impression that has rarely motivated an 

architectural response to the development of garages. 

Perhaps a more important reason for a slow response to the garage is that its potential for 

urban contribution has been overlooked. This has allowed the construction of generic 

and bleak garages to proliferate. In response, (due partly to the recognized necessity of 

the car in North American lifestyles), a growing number of communities are exercising 

ordinances which govern the contextual fit of garages, communities of which New Haven, 

C o n n e c t i c u t is the probable leader in this regard. The philosophy of N e w Haven City 

C o u n c i l has been to encourage high-style garage design and construction in the city core. 

Their rationale assumes that providing attractive and accessible parking space d o w n t o w n 

will draw commuters into the core, revitalizing it by increasing s h o p p i n g and 

entertainment a c t i v i t y . ^ What is important from their philosophy is that it includes the 

garage as a contributor to vital urban activity. 

22 



The m o m e n t u m brought about by a m o r e sensitive garage context has had an 

encouraging effect. At a s y m p o s i u m at the University of Texas at Austin (April, 1986) a 

selective group of architects r e c o g n i z e d the n e e d to address the design of garages. 

A m o n g the architects were Robert Stern, Sinclair Black, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. They 

were all in agreement: "The parking garage has to cease being a minimal function 

building. 1 Architects Kevin Roche, Stanley Tigerman, and HKS Architects, realizing the 

potential of garages, have addressed context and have explored ways of making the 

typology of garages recognizable while acknowledging their visual impact. O f these, 

Tigerman's is the most literal in metaphor; the facade of his 60 East Lake Street Garage in 

C h i c a g o resembles the grill of a Rolls Royce, c o m p l e t e with h o o d ornament. A definition 

of the function and c o n c e p t of the garage itself has not b e e n the impetus; the issue with 

which the architectural practicing profession s e e m s more c o n c e r n e d is packaging, and 

what it is to look like. 

O n this point, the profession has b e e n split and three distinct directions have e m e r g e d in 

the construction of garages. O n e strategy is to make the garage look like some other 

type of building with only the entrance to indicate its use. A s e c o n d strategy is to make 

the garage look like a place to park a car while at the same time dignifying its banality. 

A n d yet another strategy is to mix uses. All are attempts to beautify, and perhaps the 

23 

Tigerman s Rolls Royce metaphor, 60 Cast Lake 
Street. Chicago. Source: Progressive  
Architecture. November. 1987; 109. 



latter two are more honest, but neither puts emphasis o n the fact that these structures 

ought to be designed for the arrival of p e o p l e w h o use cars. 

Current architectural strategies for parking garages can be categorized as: o n e , facade 

decoration and two, the mixed-use c o n c e p t . Facade decoration c a m e as a response to 

the criticism of garages as ugly. It is the strategy a d o p t e d by N e w H a v e n , in response to 

its desire that a garage not negatively stick out in a setting of offices, historic areas, and 

waterfronts. Although a step towards sensitive design, facade decoration has b e e n 

criticized as being " w i n d o w dressing" by Clovis Heimsath, author of Behavioral 

Architecture and is suspect for two distinct reasons: o n e , facadism d o e s not alter the inner 

workings of garages and can be thus recognized for what it is, and secondly, decoration 

approaches contradiction o n structures whose design c o n c e p t is pragmatic. O n 

decorated garage facades, a visual effect is fabricated so that the building appears to 

belong, but its internal activity is disassociated with the building's outer appearance, 

breaking the integrity b e t w e e n activity and expression. The parking garage at 160 Water 

Street in Vancouver's C a s t o w n district is such an example. A r c h e d brick-work o n the 

entrances and pilasters are used in an effort to blend the facade of the garage with the 

historic buildings in the area. The interior is much the same as any other standard garage. 

This is where the problem occurs: the facade is clearly an attempt to hide the presence of 

Facade decoration. 160 Water Street, 
Vancouver. 

24 



a garage. Despite the effort, the garage remains plainly recognizable (as it must do), and 

the perception of it remains a perception closely associated with utility. As a result, the 

facade b e c o m e s dissociated with the internal activity of the garage and its integrity lies 

solely in its decorative capacity. 

The strategy of mixing uses has provided a means to recover more return o n investment 

for garage owners by supplementing parking revenue with other leasing revenue (office 

space, retail, etc.). This strategy only camouflages the existence of garages. That is, by 

limiting the v o l u m e of parking and mixing in other uses, the idea of automobile storage 

b e c o m e s less obvious. Unlike the facade decoration of parkades, facade treatment in the 

case of mixed-use carries more integrity simply because the facade detailing can add to 

the interpretation of what some of the activities within the building may be. Thus, the 

building can be more contextual via a more honest relation to other buildings. 

Both categories, facade decoration and mixed-use, d o not alter the traditional c o n c e p t of 

the garage. Even within mixed-use structures, the garage part of the building is conceived 

as storage space. Herein lies the weakness of most garages - their initial c o n c e p t . 

Storage as the priority fails as a c o n c e p t for garages for two distinct reasons: people 

occupy these buildings, indicating the need for amenities and, exclusively pragmatic 

garages interrupt the continuum of urban activity and movement. A major misconception 

25 



is the thought that garages and parkades serve only to store automobiles. These limited 

assumptions can only lead to an increasing number of problematic garages and with them, 

an increase in the interruption of the continuum Lynch describes. A shift is n e e d e d : a shift 

in architectural thinking that includes people and human participation in the c o n c e p t of 

garages. As the parking garage has asserted itself as a major urban building typology, an 

alternate way of conceptualizing garages is n e e d e d . 

"In potential, the access system is a prime piece of educational 

equipment. It enlarges an individual's reach, but in addition the act of 

moving through a city can in itself be an enlightenment. Taking advantage 

of that possibility means opening up the transport system,...treating it 

seriously as an educational opportunity. Travel can be a pleasure, if we 

pay attention to the human experience: the visual sequences, the 

opportunities to l e a r n . . . " 2 2 

26 



Chapter T w o 

E X P A N D I N G THE C O N C E P T O F G A R A G E S 

Circulation and storage are intrinsic to garages, but an approach that synthesizes these 

characteristics with other simultaneous needs should b e e x p l o r e d . The need to explore 

such an approach is twofold: o n e , the physical mass and size of parking garages cannot be 

i g n o r e d , and this precludes any immediate dismissal of aesthetics and two, using 

pragmatism as the only motive to a c c o m m o d a t e cars severely limits the relationship that 

can o c c u r between buildings and visitors and is disrespectful to the p e o p l e w h o arrive by 

cars. Further, according to Parking Market Research C o m p a n y , 8.5 billion dollars will be 

spent in the U.S. between 1986 and 1989 o n garage design and c o n s t r u c t i o n . 1 This 

projection, that does not include land acquisitions, clearly establishes garages as major 

urban buildings. Moreover, as suggested earlier, insensitive design is less tolerated than 

before, indicating that parking structures can n o longer be designed as generic storage 

places for cars. 

T o break away from this neutrality, garage design strategy should be altered to incorporate 

the human experience and not only the service of cars. If altered, c o n c e p t s such as arrival 

27 

Civic scale necessitates aesthetic 
consideration. U.S. Bank garage. 1st & Cherry. 
Seattle. 



and departure, issues such as orientation and detailing and goals such as transition and 

reception make themselves apparent. N o d o u b t intuitively, p e o p l e r e c o g n i z e that some 

parking garages address these variables with m o r e positive results than others. At 

O a k r i d g e Center in Vancouver for example, light wells and planters are used in 

conjunction with white ceiling paint in the u p p e r level parkade. This gives the parking 

area a lighter and brighter feel. The entrance to the mall at this level is in direct sight from 

most points within the parkade, and the north a n d south facades are c o m p l e t e l y o p e n , 

allowing natural light to spill in either e n d . 

T o fully appreciate the possibility of an alternate way of conceptualizing garages, we 

should first recognize the essence of the car/driver symbiosis; it is the movement of a 

human being using a mechanical means rather than his/her o w n two legs for l o c o m o t i o n . 

That is, it is a person mechanically mobilized that is the essence of a m o v i n g automobile. 

Cars m o v i n g through garages are not merely machines circulating in a structure - they are 

operated by people w h o are engaged in perceiving their surroundings while arriving at 

their destination. 

A n e x p a n d e d concept for garages is twofold and addresses the needs of drivers and 

passengers. The first c o m p o n e n t is c o n c e r n e d with the protective t e n d e n c y owners 

display about their cars; cars are sometimes held as treasured objects and their owners 

Surprising detail and civility with light wells 
complemented by greenery is found in the 
upper covered parking area at Oakridge 
Center. Vancouver 

The essence of moving cars; humans using 
mechanical means. Source: I Fenton. Vehicle  
Body Layout & Analysis. 1980; 32. 

28 



w o u l d like a decent or good place to display or protect their investment. The s e c o n d is 

more general than the first and deals with the quality of driver/passenger participation that 

is possible during the process of parking; the emphasis is on enhancing awareness of 

place, time, and purpose. 

Treasured Objects and the Expression of Personal Identity 

Although the s e c o n d aspect of the expanded c o n c e p t is wider in scope than the first, it is 

beneficial to first discuss the car, as it is the object for which traditional garages have b e e n 

designed. 

As mentioned earlier, the euphoria brought o n by the advent of the automobile gave way 

to skepticism. Contrary to the skeptics were those w h o assessed the car as a liberative 

device. "Because it offered instant mobility and possible adventure, the car symbolized a 

freedom - political, social, cultural, and e c o n o m i c - that had been cramped and threatened 

by war and e c o n o m i c deprivation." That is, in the post war years, the mobility, 

expression, c o n f i d e n c e , and social gregariousness that the car provided catalyzed a regal 

picture of cars. T h o s e who held their cars in this esteem, sought places where they c o u l d 

partake in a range of activities that did not separate them from their cars. 

29 



In response, the fifties and sixties saw the emergence of strip architecture as the car 

tenaciously pervaded North American lifestyles. The strip is where a mix of people can g o 

and "allows almost complete freedom of conduct and d r e s s . T h e strip is where the 

expression of identity became so prominent; the way a car was driven, worked o n , 

decorated, maintained, and what m o d e l it may have been, all expressed an intimate part 

of its owner's identity. Henri LeFebvre described the automobile as "the sum of everyday 

c o m p u l s i o n s , " and would write in 1971: 

"...the practical significance of the motor-car, as an instrument of road 

communication and transport, is only part of its social significance. This 

highly privileged object has a s e c o n d , intenser significance, more 

ambiguous than the first, real and symbolic...a status symbol, it stands for 

comfort, power, authority and s p e e d , it is consumed as a sign in addition 

to its practical use, it is something magic, a denizen from the land of 

"4 
make-believe. 

As treasured objects expressing personal identities, the car gave rise to concern for its 

storage place. The more integrated the parking was to a place, the more popular it was. 

30 



J.B. Jackson in 1970 speculated o n this p h e n o m e n o n : 

"The chief reason for the popularity of the strip, however, is that it is 

entirely adjusted to the automobile; it does not try to separate the 

M r 
automobile from its driver. 

Although Jackson's passage references the strip, his reasoning pinpoints the major cause 

of the reluctance to use garages; garages are clearly separated from the buildings they 

serve. C o n s e q u e n t l y , a physical and psychological separation occurs when commuters 

leave the garage for their intended activity. The psychological separation occurs because 

n o other activity save parking happens in garages and thus, garage users are alienated 

from their relation to the city. Conversely, parking o n the street occurs within a milieu of 

activities; other p e o p l e are constantly in motion - by foot, car, and assorted other m o d e s ; 

different buildings with different purposes set against a context of landscape and changing 

places elicit a collage of thoughts and emotions. Here people can feel the vitality of their 

personal identity and h o w they exist in a network of urban relations. They feel c o n n e c t e d : 

"It is characteristic of this generation to use not only the environment to 

create its identity but to use objects as well; and one the most useful 

II r 
objects from this point of view is the automobile. 

31 



From this, it can be inferred that the automobile needs to be set in a context of other 

urban activities and their associated surroundings. It is because p e o p l e communicate in 

two fundamental ways (physical and social) via the car that this context is n e e d e d . 

The architecture of the drive-in culture, "coffee shop architecture" and more recently, 

drive-through architecture, (fast f o o d , for example) are set within this context. The 

general idea of these places is to welcome visitors and to accommodate them. This is 

crucial: people arriving by cars are anticipated to o c c u p y these places, if only for a brief 

period of time. Temporary occupation implies inhabitation, and albeit temporary 

inhabitation, amenities are necessary. MacDonalds is an example of this where walls 

facing the cars are well finished, hedges are used as screens, and in some of them, 

playgrounds and patio areas c o m p l e m e n t e d by small trees and shrubs are in direct sight 

and proximity to parking. The activity of the automobile z o n e is directly associated (by 

sight, proximity, and function) with the internal activity of the restaurant. There is an 

uninterrupted c o h e r e n c e , a continuum of integrated activity and movement which unites 

the entire site. 

Parking garages too, are drive-through places that are temporarily o c c u p i e d by p e o p l e . 

Their activities are not however, integrated with those of other buildings of a site. There 

is scarcity of amenity and finishes are often no more than the removal of the form-work 

32 



for the structural concrete. Even with fifty percent wall opening, (a device e m p l o y e d for 

ventilation of toxic fumes), the interiors of parkades are often dark and somber. 

C o n c e d i n g that p e o p l e are c o n c e r n e d where they park their treasured objects, garage 

environments should possess amenity and security. 

The above discussion deals with the car as an object of status and o n e of social 

c o m m u n i c a t i o n . Two years after LeFebvre identified the symbolic p o w e r of the car, 

Roland Barthes (1972) was suggesting that the car was losing its symbolic significance of 

s p e e d , power, and authority. Jean Baudrillard later (1983) in support of Barthes states: 

"... it's all over with s p e e d - I drive more and consume less... N o more 

expenditure, consumption, performance, but instead regulation, well 

tempered functionality..."^ 

This is only partially completely correct. In view of the many different manufacturers using 

performance as a marketable feature in cars, witnessed by the market durability of the 

exotic cars, (which epitomize performance in automobiles), it is clear that it is not all over 

with s p e e d and power. Consider the car ads that feature family cars being tested o n race 

tracks, or H o n d a ' s introduction of four-wheel steering on their Prelude series. H e n c e , the 

last d e c a d e has shown that it has not been the complete sacrifice of "performance" for 

33 



fuel e c o n o m y , but m o r e a maximization of efficiency that cars have undergone. S p e e d , 

power, and handling have not been discounted - only a premium has been put o n them 

Although Baudrillard may not be completely correct in antiquating performance, his 

assessment correctly suggests that moving away from the "performance" symbolism of the 

seventies to the ecological symbolism of the efficient computerized cars of the eighties 

has altered the relationship of driver/car: 

" . . . n o more fantasies of power, s p e e d and appropriation linked to the 

object itself, but instead a tactic of potentialities linked to usage: mastery, 

control, c o m m a n d , an optimization of the play of possibilities offered by 

the car as vector and vehicle, and no longer as an object of psychological 

sanctuary."® 

Interesting is Baudrillard's shifting of the emphasis from the car, that is, "fantasies linked to 

the object itself" to the driver, that is, the "tactic of potentialities linked to usage: mastery, 

control, c o m m a n d . . . " This puts the impetus o n human perception and illustrates the 

symbiosis of car and driver; it indicates the high degree of transparency evident between 

driving and environmental perception. 

34 



Driver Perception and the Quality of Garage User Participation 

Early in the century G i a c o m o Balla and Lugi Russolo, b o t h major Italian Futurist artists, 

celebrated the change in environmental perception brought about by the car in their 

works Speeding Automobile (c.1913) and Dynamism of an Automobile (1911). Inherent 

in their preference for using the car as a modern subject was the idea of motion and 

simultaneity. G i n o Severini, another Futurist, graphically expressed m o v e m e n t and 

changing viewpoints in The Autobus (c. 1912). However, it was Henri Matisse with his 

Through the Windshield (c.1917), Stuart Davis in his paintings Garage Lights and 

Windshield Mirror (c. 1931 & 1932), and John Marin in his Street Movement (c.1934) w h o 

illustrated quite clearly the appropriation of the urban landscape from within an 

automobile. Although their m e d i u m was two dimensional, their experiments w o u l d have 

an effect o n architects and their architecture. 

Le C o r b u s i e r was a m o n g those affected and, acknowledging the impact the car was 

having, designed for the automobile in some of his projects. Le Corbusier's Villa Savoie 

has a g r o u n d floor plan set back which 

"leaves r o o m for a motor-car to pass between the wall and the pilotis 

supporting the floor above; the curve of this wall o n the side away from 

Giacomo Balla. Speeding Automobile, 1913. 
Source: R. Hughes. Shock of the New. 1982: 
25. 

Henri Matisse. Through the Wimishield, 1917 
Source: R Silk. Automobile and Culture. 1984: 
75. 

35 



36 



the road was, Le Corbusier claims, dictated by the minimum turning circle 

of a car. A car, having set d o w n its passengers at the main entrance o n 

the apex of this curve, c o u l d pass d o w n the other side of the building, still 

under the cover of the floor above, and return to the main road along a 

drive parallel to that o n which it had approached the h o u s e . 

Le Corbusier e x c e e d e d the s c o p e of the Futurists by applying the n e w way of 

environmental perception to built form. The function of the circulation route at Villa 

Savoie was integrated. It allowed immediate access for car passengers, oriented t h e m to 

the structure and approximate organization of the h o u s e , and gave expression to the 

architectural relationship of motion (automobiles and p e o p l e ) and stasis (buildings). In 

Villa Savoie, Corbusier's sympathetic understanding of the role the automobile resulted in 

a design where activity and movement was not interrupted between the street system and 

the building. However, the Savoie residence was an infrequent example of an intimate 

and positive architectural response to the automobile. 

It was only after Venturi's pioneering study of Las Vegas, that the intimate experience of 

driving a car and h o w the urban structure related itself to the driver became a g r o w i n g 

concern for the architectural community at large. Venturi extensively discussed the 

phenomenal emergence of strip architecture and with it, the whole drive-in culture H e 

37 

Integration of automobile circulation at 
Le Corbusier s. Villa Savoie, Source: K. 
Bloomer and C Moore, Body. Memory, and  
Architecture. 197 7 68. 



identified an intensity, richness and structure that strips possess. Salient is his observation 

that the architecture of the strip responds to the perceptual experiences of drivers. 

Venturi's work indicates the importance of the continuity of urban stimuli for a conscious 

environmental awareness. 

It is this high level of awareness that c o u l d allow the active participation of parking garage 

users. Already mentioned above are the benefits of site and building orientation. A sense 

of coordinates or bearings can be established; a feeling of scale, limits and bounds can 

also materialize if the site and building are in a general sense, comprehensible. Inviting 

the participation of the p e o p l e using garages can bring about in them a consciousness of 

their built environment, a sense of active decision and manipulation, a sense of 

imaginative journey and interpretation, and a sense of identity and well-being. Engaging 

p e o p l e by the use of metaphor, history, and orientation techniques can supplement the 

prosaic routine of parking. Parking a car for a driver is inevitable and the thesis does not 

c o n t e n d otherwise, but it can be collaged with other activities and functions for a positive 

dialogue between buildings and the people using them. 

38 



T h e Inclusion of Drivers/Cars into Architectural Design 

This brings us to why garages should be included into architectural design. There are four 

major reasons to d o so. 

First, the experiences derived from driving cars has b e c o m e rooted in contemporary 

society, and traditional garage design interrupts the continuity of urban inter-relations. 

T h e perception of urban areas is brought about by a continuum of destinations, 

c o n n e c t i o n s , and transitions; each has traces of the others to generate a holistic 

interactive relationship between changing places and activities. N o one part exists as an 

entity in itself. Traditional garage design with storage as its singular purpose is antithetical 

to the mu/r/-faceted collage of urban spaces. 

A s e c o n d reason to include the car/driver into architectural design is that the car is a 

culturally loaded urban artifact. The car connects p e o p l e to a city by function (mobility) 

and by being an object of social communication (personal identity). Cars are objects that 

e m b o d y the context of city life. In this way they are necessary c o m p o n e n t s in urban 

settings. As s u c h , cars are essential for personal mobility and are necessary for urban 

perception, that is, people get to know their cities by driving around in them. T o remove 

39 



cars from this role of communication, (as traditional garage design does), disorients their 

users from their urban associations. 

Third, garages are o c c u p i e d by p e o p l e . That is, drivers are cognizant of their surroundings 

and possibilities; the garage is not exclusively an automobile area - people must use them. 

Cars d o not isolate their o c c u p a n t s , but they d o encapsulate them; perception is altered 

from that of a pedestrian, but value judgments of what is a receptive place to arrive at, 

and what is not, is consistent. Limiting the potential for positive participation is a 

condition of traditional parking garages and is disrespectful to those having to use these 

structures. Changes in smells, air movement, light, noise, road surface, and m o o d s can be 

easily sensed from within a car. Implicated then are detail, finish, air and light quality, 

symbolism and c o n c e p t . As pedestrians m o v e and are cognitive of the possibilities 

presented to them, so are drivers. 

Fourth, including the car/driver in design w o u l d allow garages to express themselves with 

architectural integrity. T h e packaging of parking garages is, in many cases, architecturally 

dishonest. Decoration and masking are not only superficial, but are recognized as such. 

O n e premise of architecture is that it is c o n c e r n e d with human ends, and if there is an 

architecture for garages, then it must e m b o d y in its form and expression human endeavor 

and activity. The detailing of the facade can contribute to an individual interpretation 

An 

Porte-cochere at Canada Place. Vancouver, in 
an architecturally welcoming gesture 

By contrast, garage entrances are often brutal 
and uninviting. Lonsdale Quay garage 
entrance. North Vancouver 



about the whole building and its purpose, as o p p o s e d to only its facadal packaging. A 

plan integrated with other locales and activities can overlay use (practical storage) with 

human participation, enhancing awareness, and fostering a sense of well-being. 

M o r e o v e r , the physical mass and size of garages exist at a scale that cannot be ignored by 

the public. It follows that the internal function and finish should be architecturally 

considered in context with the exterior facades and surrounding areas since clearly, both 

the inside and the outside of garages are public realms. 

The four above reasons I believe are sufficient cause for considering an alternative way of 

conceptualizing parking garage design. A theory to initiate this new conceptualization is 

what the thesis refers to as integrated function. 

41 



Chapter Three 

INTEGRATED F U N C T I O N : P R O G R A M EXPANSION A N D TACTIL1TY 

A Philosophical design approach for an alternate conceptualization of parking garages 

INTEGRATED F U N C T I O N 

A strategy that can transform the role of a garage and supplement its pragmatic tendency 

is to integrate its function with those of other buildings and places. In this way the garage 

can no longer be exclusive. However, careful consideration should be given to what this 

integration involves. The word function is not to be confused or misinterpreted as purely 

utilitarian. A function indicates a relationship between objects and events, thus symbolism 

is part of a functional relationship. Moreover, the manner and closeness in which these 

things are related d e p e n d o n the significance of their functioning together. That is, the 

significance of a garage depends o n the extent to which it is included with the other 

buildings and activities of the site. In this light, it is essential to note that integrated 

function with respect to garages does not limit itself to programmatic concerns. The 

design of clearance requirements and traffic allowances are relevant to integrated function, 

42 



but the s c o p e of integrated function includes dimensions such as finishes and detailing as 

these considerations also affect the relationship b e t w e e n garage and place. 

There are two means of achieving a state of integrated function: o n e , expand the program 

of garages to include m o r e than parking alone, and; two, provide s o m e form of tactile 

reading that can be associated with the particular place and p u r p o s e of which the garage 

is a part. Both acknowledge the necessity of practicality, but supplement it to offset its 

inherent deficiency. Program expansion w o u l d include such things as site/building 

organization, having direct implications o n the layout of circulation routes. This has 

implications o n what garages can facilitate with regard to activity and use. Tactility 

involves factors that affect b o t h the mental and physiological perceptions of the human 

body; symbolism and analogy as examples of those affecting the mental capacities, and 

ground surface and ramp grades as examples of those affecting the physiological o n e s . 

E X P A N D E D P R O G R A M 

A n example of the e x p a n d e d p r o g r a m is the mixed-use c o n c e p t as used in the design of 

Congress Plaza, in H o u s t o n , by Morris Architects. 1 A l t h o u g h the program of the building 

(formerly a garage, now a hybrid structure a c c o m m o d a t i n g parking and other activities) 

43 

MUNI FLOOR PLAN 

Mixed-use concept. Congress Plaza, Houston. 
Source: Progressive Architecture. November. 
1987: lliy 



has b e e n e x p a n d e d , the function of the garage part of the building has not c h a n g e d . Its 

functional relation to the rest of the building is still one of auxiliary service. In other 

words, despite the mixing of uses, the function of the garage was not integrated with the 

rest of the building's activities: parking remains an exclusive activity, less obvious perhaps, 

but clearly separated. 

N o w consider another contemporary example. O u t d o o r urban squares have been 

criticized for their low use. O n e reason posited by Mark Chidister is that these squares 

use design criteria that originate from medieval squares, and these antiquated criteria d o 

not fit the lifestyles of contemporary s o c i e t y . 2 Chidister, an assistant professor of 

landscape architecture in the C o l l e g e of Design at Iowa State University, cites Robert 

Jensen, author of Dreaming of Urban Plazas, who suggests that although the medieval 

inspired urban squares are limited in their practical application at present, their function of 

providing public experience is necessary: 

" O u r plaza problem is cultural, technological and endemic, anchored in 

the way we live and not amenable to easy solutions...Concealed in the 

way we live, implied by even the briefest description of what causes us 

not to use urban plazas, is a sense of alienation from public experience. 

Because we have lost part of this pleasure, our need to reclaim it is all the 

44 



more real. N e w urban plazas e m b o d y our dreams of overcoming the 

l o s s . " 3 

Chidister concurs with Jensen but adds that public experience is possible in places such as 

sporting arenas, auditoriums, z o o s , campuses, transit c o n n e c t i o n s , and shopping malls. 

Interestingly, he singles o n e out: 

"While public plazas incorporated into the designs of these settings are 

frequently u s e d , only the s h o p p i n g mall can be considered a regular part 

of daily life rather than an event. 

N o w suppose that the huge expanses of surface parking that most large s h o p p i n g centers 

have were integrated with another function, say of a public market. Imagine that market 

stalls c o u l d be placed either at random ( d e p e n d i n g o n the needs of the merchant) or 

within a regimented but flexible structure. This spontaneity of arrangement in a place of 

daily focal gathering is similar to that of medieval squares. The parking lot could change 

from being a flat expanse of concrete to being in itself part of a larger activity. That is, 

driving through the parking lot could not only allow a visitor to park, but because the lot 

has been integrated, driving through the lot c o u l d also be arriving at a destination. 

Granville Island has this quality; circulation throughout the Island, especially in the North 

Parking in North end of Granville Island is in 
close proximity to store fronts, and is 
landscaped. 



retail section, reveals to drivers a sense of the time, place, and history while they may be 

searching for parking. The parking is not separated from other activities, and i n d e e d , at 

Granville Island, vitality of the pavement activity depends largely o n the circulation of 

drivers. 

The contribution of circulating drivers and their cars to a local vitality can also be observed 

in Vancouver's Chinatown district. The market atmosphere is intense and the circulation 

of traffic is a major part of the overall activity. The sidewalk area between the curb and 

the storefronts teems with activity. To encourage this activity and to integrate the street 

system with the sidewalk system, awnings often reach to the curb, protecting the area 

between buildings and parked cars. This concentration of human activity is not brought 

about by an event, such as would be brought about by a sporting event; s h o p p i n g in 

Chinatown for many is a daily activity. Shopping malls also are places of ordinary routine. 

I suggest there exists potential for the shopping mall parking lot to facilitate the functions 

and values that Jensen deems still necessary, but unattainable in contemporary urban 

squares. 

The latter hypothetical situation involves practical usability (parking) and a supplement 

(shopping) in the same b o u n d e d area (the parking lot surface). It's intent is to show the 

impact of supplementing utility by integrating it with local activities. By using the c o n c e p t 

Chinatown sidewalk activity is protected in 
many places by awnings reaching to curbs. 

46 



of integrated function, an engaging experience is possible for the visitor because with this 

supplement, there is room for personal awareness, choice (orientation via circulation 

routes, for example) and interpretation (of the architectural gestures originating from the 

building). Giving users an opportunity to c h o o s e , to take the place and manipulate it in 

their o w n way, allows a sense of personal belonging to be established. 

Dwelling and the Q u e s t i o n C o n c e r n i n g T e c h n o l o g y 

At this point, it w o u l d be best to discuss Heidegger's analysis of the intent of technology. 

This discussion is necessary to set the groundwork for tactility. 

If we can consider Heidegger's usage of the Greek word techne, we find that techne is a 

word which refers to the coexistence between utility and art, and further, that in the case 

of techne, both are mutually dependent: 

"...techne is the name not only for the activities and skills of the craftsman, 

but also for the arts of the mind and the fine arts. Techne belongs to 

bringing-forth, to poiesis; it is something p o e t i c . . t e c h n e is linked with the 

word episteme. Both words are terms for knowing in the widest sense. 

47 



It is this simultaneous existence which is the quality of architecture. It is precisely this 

where the potential is so great in the design of garages. T h e fact that garages have certain 

limitations (based o n storage requirements) is not an obstacle. C o n c e i v a b l y it is the 

opposite: the limitations, by keeping the structure recognizable, provide a starting point 

for the task of reaching a state of techne. Grafted d e c o r a t i o n , by Heidegger's analysis, 

merely reinforces the exclusive roles of decoration and utility and is not true to the idea of 

techne and architectural integrity. 

Consider an example. Bridges are capable of being interesting and engaging without 

grafted decoration. Their arcing decks and cables in taut resistance indicate a human 

awareness of gravitational forces. M u c h of the interest is b o r n from what story the bridge 

can tell; h o w the structural members were made and assembled can stir the imagination, 

imagination which can p r o d u c e images of human activity in the making of the bridge. 

History, p u r p o s e , and human endeavor are characteristics of many bridges. Images of 

cranes, trucks, and steelworkers c o m e to mind. A n d yet, bridges are the e p i t o m e of 

usability. Their c o n n e c t i o n of o p p o s i n g banks so that p e o p l e may pass is the reason that 

they exist. T h e Lion's Gate Bridge and the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, and even the 

swinging pedestrian bridge at Lynn Valley, are examples of bridges that a p p r o a c h the rich 

simultaneous state which H e i d e g g e r refers to as techne. 

Construction and the understanding of 
gravitational forces can evoke imaginative 
interpretations. Source: /. Fitchen, Building 
Construction Before Mechanization. 7986. 114. 

Roof support system at Granville Island. 
Vancouver 

48 



O n e may initially consider bridges as singular in purpose, and therefore invalid as 

examples for a multi-use argument. It is the opposite; bridges clearly illustrate a richness 

of interpretation that can be born from a structure w h o s e reason for being is singular. 

The reason is twofold; bridges express human endeavor, and bridges, because they 

c o n n e c t , are set in a context of use and landscape. Because they are not exclusive of the 

urban continuity, bridges are places that are rooted and that have significance. Heidegger 

elucidates this importance of the human connection and the subtlety of dwelling: 

"Bridges and hangars, stadiums and power stations are buildings but not 

dwellings; railway stations and highways, dams and market halls are built, 

but they are not dwelling places. Even so, these buildings are in the 

domain of our dwelling...the working woman is at h o m e in the spinning 

mill, but does not have her dwelling place there; the chief engineer is at 

h o m e in the power station, but he does not dwell there. These buildings 

house man. He inhabits them and yet does not dwell in them,...Yet those 

buildings that are not dwelling places remain in turn determined by 

dwelling insofar as they serve man's dwelling. Thus dwelling would in any 

case be the end that presides over all building."** 

4 9 



Heidegger correctly identifies the realm to which garages must belong - "man's dwelling." 

As s u c h , they must be capable of human inhabitation because man "inhabits them and yet 

d o e s not dwell in them". Details, finishes, daylighting, and other amenities are not 

luxuries, but are necessities for human inhabitation. Further, garages designed to be ' n o -

places' cannot exist, even if the wish is to hide t h e m . Again from Heidegger: 

"Before the bridge stands, there are of course many spots along the 

stream that can be o c c u p i e d by something. O n e of them proves to be a 

location, and does so because of the bridge. Thus the bridge d o e s not 

first c o m e to a location to stand in it; rather, a location c o m e s into 

existence only by virtue of the bridge. O n l y things that are locations in 

this manner allow for spaces...A space is something that has b e e n made 

r o o m for, something that is cleared and free, namely, within a 

boundary,...A boundary is not that at which something stops but, that 

from which something begins its essential unfolding. Accordingly, spaces 

receive their essential being from locations and not from 'space.'"^ 

David Leatherbarrow, professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses 

an interesting point that follows Heidegger's theme. Leatherbarrow uses Janus, the 

Roman d e m i - g o d to describe the union of seemingly opposite spaces, that is, inside and 

50 



outside. In short, Janus exists at every threshold, every doorway, every boundary to 

which subdivided spaces meet. His two or four faces were situated on one head and one 

neck, looking in opposite directions, indicating his presence as a connection, not a 

separation: 

"...Janus fixed spatial relationships, it was a knot which b o u n d places 

together, or joint that located an indivisible and untransferable here.'"^ 

This view falls in a c c o r d with that of Heidegger's. Both point out that the strength of 

spaces, that is, their sense of place and purpose, is born from location. In 

Leatherbarrow's terms, the garage is the "here" where Janus exists. He joins the street 

and the building, the moving and the static, the outside and the inside. In this way, he 

can preserve the urban continuum mentioned earlier. By both Heidegger's and 

Leatherbarrow's analyses, garages must be places that unfold their context, origins, and 

functions; they simply cannot be generically designed because location establishes their 

existence. Therefore, the placement of the garage, regardless of locale, will bring about a 

place-ness that cannot be denied. Acknowledging the specificity of the location by 

responding to it, will give to the garage a positive sense by which the users can feel at 

ease. 

5 1 



Having established garages as buildings that are "determined by dwelling insofar as they 

serve man's dwelling," the issue now b e c o m e s with what intent technology is e m p l o y e d 

to construct garages. In current practices of construction, it is too easy to measure a 

design element by its practicality, hence the nature of contemporary garages. However, it 

is this one-sided decision making process that contributes to the loss of the architectonic. 

Practical usability is o n e condition of architecture, but it cannot exist as an architectural 

determinant; this would lead to every building and every tool according to use being the 

same. "This attempt to establish the precedence of either utility or art is c o n d e m n e d to 

the ambiguity that plagues origin in general: assigning absolute priority to an entity always 

admits the paradox of the endless deferral of priority." 1 ^ In other words, with 

architecture, utility and art must coincide. A similar sentiment is f o u n d in Heidegger's 

questioning of technology: 

"Thus questioning, we bear witness to the crisis that in our sheer 

preoccupation with technology we d o not yet experience the c o m i n g to 

presence of technology, that in our sheer aesthetic-mindedness we no 

longer guard and preserve the c o m i n g to presence of art. Yet the more 

questioningly we ponder the essence of technology, the more mysterious 

the essence of art b e c o m e s . " 

52 



That is, in an effort to sway the other, the other's validity is too easily dismissed, and by 

being so fixed o n o n e criterion, we lose sight of how it must exist in a relational network 

of others. Heidegger's mention of "sheer occupation with technology" can be 

interpreted to describe contemporary society's urge to maximize efficiency of p r o d u c t i o n 

and resources: obtaining the most use at the least expense. It is clear that this tendency 

exists in the design of parking garages, with efficiency interpreted as maximum number of 

parking stalls per unit area. An expanded program can add to the practical use of garages 

by integrating its function with the entire site. It can become an aspect that loses its 

current opaqueness and exclusiveness. A n interesting and rewarding awareness can be 

born from the working relation between objects and events, and is not limited to the 

esoteric of high art. T o o easily is the idea of imagination with regard to garages labelled 

superfluous and dismissed for the seeming lack of e c o n o m i c usefulness. Conceivably it is 

the reverse: the seemingly uselessness of objects leaves room for interpretation and 

interest. 

As practical usability is de-centered as the central determinant for building, the 'excess' is 

referred to the realm of the s u b j e c t i v e . 1 2 A different dimension of function reveals itself 

as uselessness makes a presence. Here we have an interesting point: u p o n the m o m e n t 

of articulating efficiency, e c o n o m i c optimization is diminished. Articulation is the 

53 



counterpart of pragmatism. By articulation, the building can be interpreted as more than 

utilitarian, and M u m f o r d suggests that subjective counterpoint to objective operation is 

necessary for a complete human existence. M u m f o r d contends that organic creativity 

exists with utility at every stage of life. Being so, p e o p l e cannot help but feel that without 

this simultaneity, buildings d e v o t e d entirely to practical use, are s o m e h o w lacking and 

hence, attempts to beautify the mundane. By this, garages should be expressive of their 

function and articulated in their construction. 

Heidegger tells us that techne is a revealing and a bringing forth. This adds additional 

light to a strategy of integration. W h e n something reveals itself to people, its objective 

nature is meshed with discovery and reflection. People d o not preconceive its revelation. 

They c o m e u p o n it, a natural occurrence not ordered in advance. N o manipulation is 

n e e d e d ; it is brought forth by its o w n presence. The discoverers place themselves in the 

context of the event by reflecting o n origins, immediate opportunities, future implications, 

or merely the w o n d e r of it all. They are engaged, and participate in a c o m p l e t e 

experience. The opening up of a site, as it unfolds and reveals itself to visitors (by 

carefully designed circulation routes) can d o much the same. 

Heidegger also tells us that the man-ordering of the maximization of efficiency and 

resources is also a revealing. But this type of revealing is a challenge set in m o t i o n by an 

54 



e c o n o m i z i n g intention and as such is an enframing. His usage of enframing refers to a 

c o n d i t i o n of optimization in which everything is predictable; no discovery, n o dialogue, 

only process. The revealing by enframing orders potential to be immediately available to 

w h o m e v e r might desire it. Heidegger refers to this as standing-reserve.^^ In other 

words, the optimization with e c o n o m y and practicality as priorities leaves no room for 

interpretation and alienates man from the environment. Traditional garage design and its 

relation to site falls under this criticism; always at the ready to process the maximum 

number of cars for parking and nothing more. Heidegger further points out that 

enframing blocks the revealing whose sense is poiesis, a bringing-forth of the object's 

fundamental characteristics. 1 4 Poiesis is a fundamental condition of techne, the 

coexistence between art and utility, which in Heidegger's terms, is manifested in 

architecture. If so, traditional garage design must be altered to o n e where the revelation 

of the site and the garage's fundamental role are made perceptible to visitors in positive 

associations. 

The engaging interpretation must originate from the architectural experience of the 

building itself. It is not the appliques that carry a stirring presence, because they can be 

seen as grafted, borrowed, temporary, and certainly it is not the docile operation of a 

garage that moves us. M o r e , it is how the necessary function required of garages can be 

55 



integrated into places to elicit positive responses from their users that is potentially so 

interesting. 

TACTILE DESIGN 

So far, the discussion has indicated the possibilities of expanded program as a supplement 

to the utility of garages. What follows is a design approach which focuses o n the 

perception capacities of the human being. It is presented as tactile design. 

The premise of tactile design acknowledges the capacity of the human b o d y to perceive 

its surroundings in terms other than those of sight alone. Consequently, not only are 

visual cues relevant, but cues that affect other physiological responses are to be 

considered. M o r e o v e r , Ittelson points out that a sharp division between cognitive ability 

and physiological reaction: 

"Perceiving is both phenomenal experience and directive for action. Both 

aspects are crucial...perceiving is actually a m u c h more complex process 

[than the conscious experience of sensory input]...stimulus considered as 

a source of information, is quite a different proposition from the stimulus 

56 



considered as a source of stimulation. For o n e thing, stimulation can be 

understood in the immediate context of physical and physiological 

reactions: Information refers to a much larger context." 1 -* 

From Ittelson's analysis, cognitive abilities that perceive such things as symbolism cannot 

be exclusively separated from physiological reactions, and thus, the tactile involves the use 

of analogy and metaphor as well. 

For garages, this w o u l d have implications for the manner in which we move though them, 

and also for what we gather from this movement as a c o n s e q u e n c e . For example, what a 

person can gather from a garage that is concerned only with parking can be quite limited 

in comparison to that which orients the user to a specific site by incorporating, for 

example, the notion of embarkation. The former serves only to store vehicles, the latter is 

c o n c e r n e d with personal engagement. 

O n e generative point need only be remembered should this c o n c e p t of engaging p e o p l e 

be c h o s e n : acknowledging that the garage is to serve people and is not only to store cars, 

necessitates that the garage be in dialogue with the user in a manner which involves 

human experience. 

57 



Since the w o r d 'experience' is rather ambiguous, clarification is in order. Experience, in its 

usage in this thesis, is intended to refer to the capacity of the body (therefore more 

encompassing than the capacity of vision alone) to perceive the environment. 

So far, the discussion has been critical of facade treatment alone as being ancillary. This 

criticism is b o r n from the fact that decoration of a garage depends primarily o n vision to 

have any effect o n a user or passerby, and d o e s not contribute to integrating its function. 

This limitation suppresses the other senses and reduces the intensity of the experience. 

Visual information, the only way in which the decoration of a garage can be appropriated, 

is responsible for some form of experience, but this experience is emaciated; emaciated 

because it d o e s not motivate active participation. Buildings with architectural integrity 

have implications o n the bodily movement of p e o p l e through them and, this unison of the 

physiological and psychological responses, makes the experience immediate. It is this 

cognizance and the use of this type of experience (characterized by its immediacy) that 

can offer a strategy for the tactile design of engaging garages. 

O f Kenneth Frampton's Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance,^** point six is entitled 

The Visual Verses the Tactile. Frampton, being critical of the gravitation of architecture 

towards c o m m o d i t y is critical of pure scenography, or that which merely masks or 

packages. Implicit in his discussion is the notion that visual information as the only source 

58 



of stimulus distances the observer from the object displaying this information, and denies 

the possibility for a cornplete experience. Hence: 

"It is symptomatic of the priority given to sight that we find it necessary to 

remind ourselves that the tactile is an important dimension in the 

perception of built f o r m . " 1 ^ 

Frampton goes o n to discuss the importance of hearing, smell, the sensing of 

temperature, and kinetic movement (haptics). T o him, these sensory capacities can be 

included in design decisions to create an overall perception at a level of directness which 

cannot be attained by considering vision alone. This is not to say that the importance of 

sight is to be jettisoned in architectural design. Frampton only separates sight from the 

rest to reveal its shortcomings as a single priority (as is apparent in garage beautification). 

His argument acknowledges the western tendency to prioritize sight, but suggests that 

this "normative visual experience" be complimented by "readdressing the tactile range of 

1 ft 

human perceptions." In addressing the tactile, Frampton underscores its fundamental 

condition : 

"...it is clear that the liberative importance of the tactile resides in the fact 

that it can only be d e c o d e d in terms of experience itself: it cannot be 

5 9 



r e d u c e d to mere information, to representation or to the simple evocation 

of a simulacrum substituting for absent p r e s e n c e s . " 1 ^ 

In other words, human-experience used in balance with the constructing of buildings, 

results in an inherent dialogue between building and user in terms other than those that 

can be generated by sight alone. Thus, the limitations of garage decoration can be greatly 

e x p a n d e d to make the appropriation of the building more immediate. This immediacy 

elicits a higher state of consciousness from the visitor and thus, makes the place 

memorable. A n d memorable places, by being r o o t e d to a specific locale and cultural 

p u r p o s e , acquire permanence, which innately resists the temporariness associated with 

fashion, a temporariness from which garage decoration follows. 

Frampton is not alone in his summations. Charles M o o r e , with Kent Bloomer and Robert 

Yudell in 1977 wrote Body, Memory, and Architecture which concurs with this theme. As 

the title indicates, the b o o k elucidates the significance of the connection of mind/body to 

built forms. Throughout the entire book, a call is made to bring human participation 

(mind and body) back into design. Consequently, the call is for an architecture that 

communicates directly with human experience. Identified by M o o r e as missing in 

contemporary structures "are the potential transactions between body, imagination, and 

environment" and after a brief condemnation of meaningless building, M o o r e sums up the 

60 



present state of architecture (1977) as " h o m o g e n e o u s environments [that] require little of 

us, and [that] give little in return besides the shelter of a cubical c o c o o n . M o o r e ' s 

observation might aptly be applied to a description of a parking structure. 

M o r e o v e r , Clovis Heimsath, author of Behavioral Architecture has pointed out that despite 

a parking garage's safety or visual context, people still find the buildings' cave-like 

entrances and interiors forbidding. She further goes o n to state: 

"Until y o u make that sequence of entering a sequence to be l o o k e d 

forward to, a sequence that will be thoroughly benign, until y o u subtract 

the negative...until that is addressed, all the rest is window dressing." 

O n e approach to the sequence to which Heimsath refers is to design for reception and 

participation in garages. A prerequisite for participation is experience. Robert Irwin, a 

contemporary Los Angeles artist, discusses at length this close relationship of experience 

and participation. Irwin argues for the independent validity of subjective perceptions and 

suggests that the power of our perceptive systems is immense, and to consciously be 

aware of their operation leads to a phenomenal and responsive art. If only that can be 

realized, a positive environmental consciousness can be designed for, and Irwin's notion 

61 



of being and circumstance can be directly applicable: 

"Being and circumstance, then, constitute the operative frame of 

reference for an extended (phenomenal) art activity, which becomes a 

process of reasoning between our mediated culture (being) and our 

immediate presence (circumstance). Being embodies in you the observer, 

participant, or user, your complete genetic, cultural, and personal histories 

as "subsidiary" cues bearing on your "focal" attending (experiencing) of 

your circumstances... There is in any set of circumstances and your being 

in them the dynamic of a past and future, what was, how it came to be, 

what it is, and what it may c o m e to be. 

In other words, recognition of familiar objects and events, and reasons for their being 

constitute only part of an experience. Irwin suggests that to complete an aesthetic 

experience requires that we partake in the setting or as he puts it, attend focally on our 

set of circumstances. This supports the notion that garages must allow their sites to 

reveal themselves to visitors so that the visitors may partake in positive and complete 

experiences. Traditional garages deny the taking of them or their sites in the way that 

p e o p l e d o when visiting other places; barns, industrial warehouses, and factories have 

such potential, the parking garages o n Granville Island (re-adapted machine shops and 

62 



warehouses) being an example. W i t h o u t this dialogue, a fundamental c o n d i t i o n of 

architecture itself is missing. M o r e o v e r , Irwin asserts that to know s o m e thing for what it 

is (as o p p o s e d to what it may outwardly look like) "requires o u r immediate p r e s e n c e , 

which if effect puts individual experience at the root of our u n d e r s t a n d i n g . T h e r e f o r e , 

if garages are to affect and engage p e o p l e in a positive way, they must break away from 

the trap of processing and restricting the action of p e o p l e using them, and e m b o d y 

human experience and allow for active participation. 

Haptic Perception and a H u m a n / M e c h a n i c a l Dialogue 

A s tactile perception assumes appropriation via the b o d y , M o o r e ' s discussion o n the 

haptic system is related. The haptic system is Aristotle's definition of touch reconsidered 

to include the entire b o d y in addition to the instruments of t o u c h , that is, the hands. As a 

perceptual system, pressure, temperature, pain, and kinesthetics are i n c o r p o r a t e d . ^ 4 

Specifically, it is the kinesthetics of the haptic system that has potential in garage design. 

25 

N o other perceptual system involves feeling and doing simultaneously. H e n c e , 

experience and awareness are inherently involved. Irwin refers this type of p h e n o m e n o n 

as knowing in action^ which in itself describes the immediacy of the action/reaction of 

the haptic system. Ramp grades, turning radii, and s p e e d , three major concerns in 

63 

Ramp grades at Canada Place offer memorable 
kinesthetics via haptic perception 



garages, can intensify the experience through kinesthetics, or the perception of b o d y 

movement. This movement can help establish a sense of on-site bearings. The texture of 

the paving surface itself can be haptically felt from within cars. Occupants of cars are not 

isolated from their surroundings, therefore, the haptic system can be used in tactile design 

to affect drivers/passengers. 

O n e characteristic of haptic perception is that it is linked to the mechanical m o v e m e n t of 

the human b o d y or parts thereof. The human body and its c o m p o n e n t parts are subject 

to the forces of gravity. It is the sensation of gravity and its immediate understanding via 

the b o d y that allows the structuring and construction of buildings. The "physical" 

sciences describe gravity in terms of Newtons and meters per second squared, but this is 

just a description using an abstract logic that can not explain anything but its o w n 

formalism. Conversely, movement and connections which are termed mechanical are 

e m b e d d e d in the human perception of the environment. The understanding of 

mechanical m o v e m e n t is through bodily experience (for example, we understand leverage 

because we possess levers within our bodies), and requires no abstract description as it is 

immediately appropriated. 

Because of this mechanical understanding, and the cognizance of gravity, humans have a 

close affinity for mechanical objects. The number of mechanical objects used in daily 

64 



routine by any individual is testimony to this. The interesting point of this affinity is that 

the machine has potential for inspiring the incorporation of the human experience in the 

design of garages. The thesis refers to this affinity as human/mechanical dialogue. 

Human/mechanical dialogue describes the c o n n e c t i o n discernible between the realm of 

mechanical objects and the human being. This c o n n e c t i o n makes itself felt in buildings 

such as factories, warehouses, service garages, and in structures such as cranes, bridges 

and earlier forms of machinery. Waterfront industrial areas are rich in this dialogue, and 

places such as Granville Island and Lonsdale Q u a y , b o t h of Vancouver, and Pike Place 

Market in Seattle have used this dialogue to enhance retail d e v e l o p m e n t . It is not 

however, restricted to industrial typologies as it is also recognizable in boats, and in 

mechanical detailing in certain other building types. For example, stairways that pull d o w n 

from attics, e x p o s e d elevators, panic hardware o n fire d o o r s , w e l d e d wire mesh, revolving 

lights, all have a construction quality about them which alludes to this affinity for the 

machine. 

Robert McCarter has recently brought to light an interesting c o n n e c t i o n between building 

and early machines. H e has c h o s e n early machines as a source of forms which might 

resist the temporariness of contemporary architecture. This is interesting because the 

gestural movements of early machines are perceived in a state of immediacy, that is, in a 

65 

Crane in shipyard adjacent Lonsdale Quay 
human/mechanical expression. 



tactile way, and it is tactility that has possibilities for garages. M c C a r t e r has correctly 

identified early machine forms as experimental in nature "having to d o with human 

experience and the discovery of the w o r l d . I m p l i c i t is his allusion is the notion that 

t e c h n o l o g y was a human e n d e a v o r at the time of these machines. This is important 

because by being a human endeavor, the e n d to which technology was used was human 

related, not function related. True to Heidegger's usage of techne, M c C a r t e r elucidates 

the difference between these early machines and contemporary ones: 

"...technology has since lost its nature of being an experiment: a 

calculating, optimizing, e c o n o m i z i n g intention has taken over...This 

contemporary t e c h n o l o g y and the machines it produces are unrelated to 

2ft 
the human values that motivated the early inventors." 

It is because these now archaic machines were experimental, e m b o d y i n g t e c h n o l o g y as a 

human activity to the service of human beings, that McCarter makes the suggestion of 

drawing inspiration from t h e m . A c c o r d i n g to McCarter, the machine can be assessed by 

values other than those associated with optimization, and it is these other values that offer 

the means of supplementing utility. These experimental machines e m b o d i e d the 

inquisitive and explorative h u m a n mind, giving sustenance to human action. Risk and 

66 

Elevator at Lonsdale Quay expressing motion 
and stasis by mechanical forms. 



reward, the playing out of life itself, are why these "technological dinosaurs, these extinct 

species of invention, remain so alive to artistic d e v e l o p m e n t . " 2 ^ 

However, this use of t e c h n o l o g y with human ends evident in the machine is not the only 

attribute from which garage design can draw. T h e machine is a mechanical object with 

interconnecting parts that move. They epitomize the meeting of the moving and the 

static. Even at rest, machines physiognomically imply their movement. T o emphasize this 

paradoxical and yet transparent relationship of motion/stasis is appropriate in a place 

where the moving (automobiles and people) e n c o u n t e r the static (buildings). It is of use 

therefore to identify the innate qualities of the machine so that they might be used in 

garage design. 

The qualities of archaic machinery are at o n c e romantic and topical. Romanticism has its 

limitations regarding machinery as it is skeptical of future d e v e l o p m e n t and aspires to 

unattainable conditions antiquated by time. Therefore, as p r e c o n c e i v e d aging, the 

romantic dimension of robust machinery should not be misused or c o n f u s e d as the 

human association with mechanical objects. 

Also, it is important to n o t e what kind of machinery we are referring to. M c C a r t e r uses 

archaic machinery as o p p o s e d to contemporary o n e s . The resonant quality of these 

i 

Ingersoll-Rand pump at Gasworks Park. 
Seattle Interconnecting parts that move 
rationalize their interdependence. A very 
definite gestural quality is expressed. 

67 



machines is their inherent connection to human beings. This c o n n e c t i o n is brought about 

by the gestural qualities innate to mechanical movement. M o r e o v e r , these older 

machines possessed something of human scale, making the association between humans 

and machines even greater. The connection is close to being transparent: 

" M a n made the machine in his own image. She has limbs which act; lungs 

which breathe; a heart which beats; a nervous system through which runs 

electricity...After making the machine in his o w n image, he has made his 

human ideal m a c h i n o m o r p h i c . . . " ^ 

Implicit in his choice of machines is McCarter's preference for the integrity of mechanical 

expression. The counterpoint to this would be a machine which reveals little of its 

working and logic. Consider an example of timepieces. With the c o m i n g of quartz 

crystals, watches took on two fundamentally different modes of expression, o n e 

mechanical and o n e electronic. The watch faces themselves identify each m o d e with the 

mechanical analog using metal hands that point, and the electronic quartz watch using 

L C D or LED read-outs. The biggest difference can be observed u p o n removing the backs 

of the timepieces. The analog with all its gears, springs, wheels, screws, jewels, pins, 

68 



rods, and plates have a curiously human inference. Part of the reason may be its 

mechanical expression and part may be that the screws and fasteners, and crafting of 

parts, imply hand-tools which gives the watch the attribute of being recognized as a 

human artifact. Whatever the reason, its ability to be immediate surpasses that of quartz-

run timepieces. In m o t i o n , the mechanics of the analog rationalize the movement of the 

hands. The e x p o s e d innards of a quartz watch reveal very little in addition to its face 

expression that c o u l d make the working and human connection of the piece 

understandable. The potency of its power source cannot be witnessed. The flow of 

electrons is comprehensible by abstraction and is not physically perceivable. Aside from 

the blinking of the c o l o n and the periodic change of numerals o n its face, the quartz 

timepiece is expressively an inert object in comparison to the mechanical analog. It is this 

revealing of origin, power source, and mechanical working that archaic machines possess. 

Merleau-Ponty suggests, "Prior to and independently of other people, the thing achieves 

that miracle of expression: an inner reality which reveals itself externally [and] expression is 

the language of the thing itself and springs from.its configuration."-^1 The gears and 

plates, levers and springs, screws and pins, are all configured by human designers. 

M o r e o v e r , the mechanical/human expression of the watch parts is unavoidable and 

Norberg-Schulz asserts "Expression, thus, is basically physiognomic, regardless of the 

69 



nature of the thing, and identification therefore comprises a rapport between man's o w n 

body and the bodily form of the o b j e c t . " 3 ^ All of these reasons are why archaic machines 

have an integrity of mechanical expression which is topical and relevant to current design 

strategies. 

The car, despite the packaging of its mechanical expression, is still perceived chiefly as a 

mechanical object by which we physically move. Unlike the telephone or television that 

communicate via electricity, the communicative ability of the car resides in its mechanical 

m o d e of l o c o m o t i o n . Its magnitude of m o v e m e n t is physical, both visibly and 

kinesthetically perceivable. The car is intimately human in scale and we can make the car 

move where we wish at the speed of our reflexes (given g o o d road conditions) making 

the c o n n e c t i o n more immediate. In this way, mechanical movement is directly 

connected with human experience, and thus, it can be used in tactile design. 

H e n c e , two things are important in human/mechanical dialogue: o n e , mechanical 

movement actual or implied is immediately understandable because human b o d i e s m o v e 

by mechanical movement, and two, machines express their human origins b e c a u s e their 

c o m p o n e n t parts are d e s i g n e d and crafted using human experience. Both are directly 

applicable to tactile design. The potential for garage design lies in the machine's innate 

condition of motion/stasis. As there is such a close h u m a n identification with mechanical 

.Mthough its mechanical expression is 
packaged, the car remains to be perceived 
chiefly a mechanical object. Source: /. 
Fenton. Vehicle Body Layout & .Analysis, 1980; 
30 

70 



machines, establishing this association in a place of cars and people would give that place 

a sense of human belonging. A n d this goal is precisely the goal that can transform the 

traditional design of garages. 

Like the space in factories, mills, and warehouses, the space in garages must 

a c c o m m o d a t e the needs of moving equipment and moving p e o p l e . W h e n the machine 

operators have left, factories, mills, and warehouses are recognizable as places of human 

activity. It is the remaining machinery in the machine-shops, implying their connection to 

human operators (by knobs, levers, and pedals), that makes this recognition possible. 

Scale of passageways, windows, and overhead clearances, all leave a residual idea of 

human activity in a place involving machinery. What traces, or nuances can be left behind, 

or m o r e importantly, what end can the garage serve that makes the garage a place for 

human activity? This question is all important. The answer lies in creating a machine 

expression (that communicates human involvement) with static forms. Sundials have this 

movement/stasis condition. They are intensely human related and can be easily 

recognized as human artifacts. Moreover, they are latitude-specific, their gnomons being 

angled to parallel the Earth's rotational axis. In Heidegger's terms, sundials reveal by 

poiesis, they reveal the specific site, and they do not exist as standing-reserve. They are 

human in scale, reveal the presence of human influence, and stir the imagination. 

71 



Train stations and airports too are places involving m o v i n g (transport) equipment and 

p e o p l e . Unlike garages, they are c o n c e r n e d with a positive and c o n n e c t e d environment 

for embarking/debarking. Train stations may be stronger in this association because of the 

relatively closer proximity of the pedestrian platform to i n c o m i n g / o u t g o i n g passenger 

carriers. Nonetheless, this arrival/departure idea can be used in a place for cars and 

p e o p l e in a similar manner. At M c C a r r a n International Airport in Las Vegas, parking is part 

of the terminal with elevators providing access. The o p e n perimeter of the garage allows 

a visual c o n n e c t i o n to the g r o u n d , although the scale is o n e of mega-structure. M o r e 

interesting is Q u i n c y Adams Station in Q u i n c y , Massachusetts. Bus and c o m m u t e r train 

staging areas make up part of the 2200-car-parking c o m p l e x . A l t h o u g h the scale is similar 

to M c C a r r a n Airport, the mixing of activities and the moving machinery in a building 

whose structure is e x p o s e d , gives Q u i n c y station an immediate vitality. 

Human/mechanical dialogue is potentially a design approach that can alter the traditional 

c o n c e p t of garages. It is not the intent of the dialogue to glorify the machine, but more 

to explore a relationship between p e o p l e and the mechanical objects approximating a 

human scale. It is because garages must a c c o m m o d a t e b o t h p e o p l e and machines that 

72 

Quincy Adams Station. Quincy. Mass Platform 
close to carrier dock, mixing activities and 
movement. 



this notion has potential. 

"The frame we place a r o u n d external reality in order to subject(ify) it, to 

cast it as a projection of ourselves, is mechanical...It is in the machine that 

use finds expression and is elevated through this necessary excess into 

cognition as significance...Due to its historic and psychological depth, a 

machine architecture is not gesture of futurism but an archaeology of 

c o m m o n u n d e r s t a n d i n g . " 3 3 

Material joints 

M u c h of the expression that archaic machines possess originates from the joints between 

c o m p o n e n t parts. They rationalize each part's reason for being and reveal their mutual 

d e p e n d e n c e . M a r c o Frascari, a professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania 

in an essay o n detailing suggests that what we traditionally refer to as details can be used 

as generators by which a total architecture can be perceived. That is, by looking at, or 

touching, and understanding the structure of a fertile detail?4 a sense of the wholeness 

of the place can be appropriated. Frascari then points out that the traditional definition of 

detail cannot be properly used in architecture since s o m e elements of architecture are in 

Material joint, expressing stability of exposed 
elevator, Lonsdale Quay. Vancouver. 

73 



themselves whole pieces but at the same time parts of larger wholes. H e uses the lantern 

atop Brunelleschi's D u o m o to illustrate this. T o better describe this situation, Frascari uses 

the word joint: 

"...it is possible to observe that any architectural element defined as detail 

is always a joint. Details can be "material joints," as in the case of a 

capital, which is the c o n n e c t i o n b e t w e e n a c o l u m n shaft and an architrave, 

or they can be "formal joints," as in the case of a p o r c h , which is the 

c o n n e c t i o n between an interior and an exterior space. 

The exposure of joints intrinsic to e c o n o m i c construction practices f o u n d in contemporary 

parking structures is not d e v e l o p e d ; the joints by being e x p o s e d already have expressive 

potential, but because they are direct results of engineering and e c o n o m i c 'finishing,' they 

are perceived as subordinate elements. Their potential to be an expression of technology, 

and with it the ability to e m b o d y the local sense of place g o e s largely untapped. A n 

example is the use of corner windows in V a n c o u v e r residences. T o obtain view and light, 

many residences glaze intersecting exterior corners, s o m e with n o more than a silicon 

bead to reveal the intersection. This use of glazing is in a general way, location specific. 

Frascari, in summary suggests "The joint, that is the fertile detail, is the place where both 

the construction and the construing of architecture takes place. 

74 

Roof system at Granville Island covered 
parking has integrity of function and 
expression. 



Developing this two-sided idea of joint in garages can give to them an authenticity and 

permanence, as d o e s the detailing o n Granville Island. The revealed joints in construction, 

particularly in the roof support systems, communicate a time, place, and purpose. They 

possess an integrity of function and expression, giving them authenticity and permanence. 

Joints in more current construction involve nuts and bolts, or screws (implying hand 

tools), w e l d e d steel plates, angle iron and I-beam sections. What is so engaging in 

Frascari's argument is that it argues for architectural integrity. This integrity has much 

potential in parking structures. 

The reason for this potential is three-fold: parkades are not meant to be places of 

p r o l o n g e d inhabitation, which allows for a more robust and revealed execution of finishes 

and joinery; two, parking structures are not limited by climate control and noise level 

criteria to the extent that residences, or places of work are, which allows spatial 

development and expression; and three, the garage is the point along the schema of 

movement where a joining of street and building is necessary. 

The articulation of joints, and the recognition of a human/mechanical dialogue, has 

potential to elevate the function of the parking garage to its more appropriate twofold 

capacity; a staging place where the activity of embarking and debarking is positively 

manifested and, a transitional place that joins the street system with the building. 

75 



THEORETICAL S U M M A R Y 

This chapter has b e e n devoted to a philosophical design approach developed from 

position which adopts the p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l views of Heidegger. Its intent is to elevate 

the function of garages in urban settings. The approach embodies a strategy termed 

integrated function which involves making design decisions directly c o n n e c t e d to tactile 

human experience. The aim of integrated function is to engage users of garages in ways 

other than those associated with sight alone via tactility, and in ways other than those 

associated with utility alone via expanded program. The contention is that the c o n c e p t of 

garages cannot exist o n the singular premise of pragmatism. If expanded to incorporate 

the allowance for a conscious and positive environmental perception, the c o n c e p t for 

garages can integrate the presently exclusive process of parking with other activities, 

allowing a cohesive use and perception of site. In this way an urban continuum of 

movement and activity can be preserved. 

76 



Chapter Four 

C O A L S A N D PROPOSITIONS 

Established by the philosophical position discussed above is the need for an expanded 

c o n c e p t of parking garages. Their fundamental capacity should be twofold; o n e , to 

facilitate the circulation and storage of automobiles and two, promote a c o n s c i o u s and 

positive environmental awareness to elicit active participation from their users. The 

achieving of these two functions allows an ultimate goal to be reached; they allow parking 

garages to assume a role whose transitional position between streets and buildings is 

coherent and contextual e n o u g h to preserve the continuity of movement of people 

through urban places. 

The thesis suggests that to achieve this state of integrated function, the general amenities 

of respect and civility towards garage users must be used in conceptualizing an expanded 

c o n c e p t for garages. In order that the garage should constitute a place of vital activity and 

purpose (urban connection), these general qualities of respect and civility are required. 

O n e specific criterion regarding the civility of garages is security. As m e n t i o n e d above, 

garages are often hostile. T o counter this, security must be clearly discernible by the 

77 



building users. G . S. Shaffer and L. M . A n d e r s o n released a research study in 1985 o n the 

perceived security and attractiveness of urban parking l o t s . 1 User security is a major issue 

in the design of garages and the study indicates certain physical variables can be 

responsible for a higher or lower rating in b o t h security and attractiveness. M o r e 

interesting is the overall implication from the study; amenity in garage design is not 

superfluous and can conceivably contribute to user v o l u m e . 

Some of the results are as follows: 

Security tended to be greater for scenes having high apparent property value. By 

using careful detailing practices and high standard finishes, not only is respect 

granted to the user, but a sense of security is e n c o u r a g e d as well. Pan Pacific 

Hotel at the Cruise Ship level is an example. 

Frontal as opposed to rear views of structures were preferred. This is interesting 

because many contemporary garage entrances are located o n elevations other 

than the frontal o n e , as is the case where the garage is part of a larger c o m p l e x . 

fase of access and entrance location corresponded to security perception. This 

indicates the dual advantage of strategic entrance location. P r o n o u n c e d entrances 

facing the major streets were s c o r e d convenient for accessibility as well as high 

Pan Pacific Hotel entrance on the Cruise Ship 
Level at Canada Place is sensitively finished 
and well lit. enhancing respect and security 

78 



security ratings. Entrances placed in lanes contributed to lower security ratings. 

This also coincides with the attractiveness dimension in the study which indicated 

that automobile entrances be located on the frontal elevation. 

The presence or implied presence of others related to higher security ratings. The 

central thrust of this thesis is concerned with engaging human experience to elicit 

participation from building users in their settings. All the following propositions 

revolve around this engagement of human experience and an interesting 

observation of the study is that implied presence is e n o u g h to bring about higher 

security ratings. Moreover, the greater the number of cars and people visible 

directly c o r r e s p o n d e d to higher security ratings. This indicates the need to 

expose the garage as o p p o s e d to hiding it. 

High visibility and low sense of enclosure resulted in positive ratings. Visibility 

was attributed to the desire to see sky. The anxiety of personal assault was also a 

probable factor in this result. Barriers such as fences and retaining walls p r o d u c e d 

negative results. Thin slabs and o p e n guard rails produce a lighter, brighter 

atmosphere than heavy concrete retaining walls. The garages at Granville and 

C o r d o v a , and C o r d o v a and Richards serve as a comparison. At C o r d o v a and 

Richards, three of the four sides are opaque, with relief occasionally c o m i n g from 

79 



sparse openings o n the south facing alley facade. M o s t of the openings are o n 

the north facade, where daylighting is naturally soft and as a result, the interior is 

very dark and sight lines for visibility are obstructed. Conversely, at Granville and 

C o r d o v a , the facades are made up mostly of thin guardrails interrupted only by 

o n e major structural diaphragm o n each of the e x p o s e d west and north elevations. 

The d e c k slabs are tapered to the e d g e , creating a very light framework. Visibility 

is high and the sense of enclosure is low in comparison. 

Perhaps most important to the perceptions of both security and attractiveness are 

those features that demonstrate care and attention by people. This is directly 

related to a category the study terms Design and Maintenance. Maintenance of all 

objects (including vegetation) and surfaces implied higher property value and 

higher security. Design for visibility, enclosure, and entrance placement were 

major areas of c o n c e r n . 

Dumpsters, wires and litter were negatively correlated with the above two 

perception ratings. This is the c o n s e q u e n c e of p o o r maintenance and inattentive 

design. 

80 

At Cordova & Granville. Vancouver, open 
facades increases security rating and is well 
suited for orientation using sight-lines. 

At Cordova & Richards, Vancouver, highly 
enclosed bomb shelter' atmosphere 
decreases security and the use of sight-lines. 



The results of Shaffer and Anderson's research reveal a need to approach garage design as 

a problem which includes attributes of human occupation. Shaffer and Anderson s u m this 

up by stating: 

[the results of the study]"suggest that urban planners should not try to 

hide the presence of [these] buildings altogether. Instead, perceived 

security might be enhanced with well-maintained structures where 

individuals feel they can seek refuge or that imply the presence of others 

w h o can either provide deterrence or assistance. 

Shaffer and A n d e r s o n ' s research indicates a n e e d for an expanded c o n c e p t for the urban 

parking garage. Implied in their discussion is the need to express a human association in 

garages. This falls in line with the central aim of this thesis. 

Having discussed a general philosophical position for garage design, and having presented 

independent scientific research findings, which are directly related and supportive of such 

a position, four propositions can now be presented. The first embodies Heidegger's view 

of dwelling, and reflects his insistence that all buildings are inhabitable. Implicitly 

c o n n e c t e d is M u m f o r d ' s suggestion of a holistic human experience. The s e c o n d deals 

with Heidegger's discussion of location, but at a scale of site-with-building, that is, at a 

8 1 



scale that orients users in an urban continuum as identified by Lynch. The third again 

deals with location, but is more intimate, and aims to bring about a specific here (from 

Leatherbarrow, page 51) for the garage itself. A n d the fourth proposition e m b o d i e s 

Heidegger's philosophy o n building, thinking, and technology, identified by Frascari as an 

architectural integrity of building assembly. 

These propositions originate from the belief that parking garages can, by initial c o n c e p t , 

contribute positively to a more coherent continuity of urban movement and activity. All 

four are c o n c e r n e d with an environmental learning, as implied by Chidister's and Francis' 

identification of discovery, challenge, delight, and participation - a learning that can result 

from what M u m f o r d implies is a sensitivity for the balance between objective and 

subjective perceptions of buildings, and which Irwin describes as being and circumstance. 

They e m b o d y architectonic goals attainable by various means. 

Each proposition is presented with examples of means to achieve the intent. 

82 



Proposition O n e : Design the entire garage with amenities for human inhabitation. 

If urban continuity can be accepted as a goal applicable to garage d e s i g n , and if the 

general conditions of respect and civility are to be incorporated, then an architectural 

gesture must e m b o d y these factors. Entrances for example, are to be located where they 

are easily visible and perceived as important, m o s t likely along or near the frontal 

elevation. Carage entrances should not be bleak and lacking in detail because they 

symbolically mark the boundary, a threshold b e t w e e n two spaces. Locating the entrance 

at the back of the building, or in an obscure c o m e r , hard to find, and difficult to access, 

cannot help but make a negative gesture towards drivers. Conversely, making them visible 

and locating them where they can be perceived as important, as in the case of porte-

c o c h e r e s , will incorporate the idea of embarkation and w e l c o m e users in a dignified way. 

A u t o m o b i l e entrances are not alone in this regard. Pedestrian entrances for those going 

to/from their cars also deserve detailing and thoughtful location. City C e n t e r , Vancouver, 

uses elegant detailing o n the pedestrian entrance to the parking area. T h u s , respect is 

granted to drivers returning to or departing f r o m their cars. Oakridge C e n t e r o n the 

upper level parking uses highly appointed detailing in the atrium entrances. This is an 

interesting example because this splendor d o e s not o c c u r at plaza level. The intention of 

this proposition is to e m b o d y in garages, recognition that p e o p l e use these buildings. 

\ 

Approach to Robson Square garage entrance is 
a roundabout path because of one-way street 
system. Entrance is at back of building, bleak, 
and is in sharp contrast to pedestrian 
entrances at front. 

Sensitive detailing of pedestrian entrance. City 
Center. 12th & Cambie. Vancouver. 

83 



This gesture however, n e e d not be limited to entrances. Wall surface, lighting, d o o r 

fixtures and hardware, acoustics, pavement surface, and graphics all contribute to interiors 

which are responsible for setting the overall m o o d of the place. The extremely low head 

clearance (in some places 2.1m) f o u n d in the W a s h i n g t o n State C o n v e n t i o n and Trade 

Center, along with the lack of natural lighting, and c o m p o u n d e d by the c h o i c e of 

finishing, creates a very cavernous atmosphere. A n exceptionally hostile atmosphere can 

be f o u n d in the Butler Garage, at the corner of 2nd A v e n u e and James, in Seattle. Not 

only is the building in a state of ill-repair (broken w i n d o w panes in several locations, grimy 

walls, garbage), but it also suggests that it contains n o o k s and crannies to harbor crime. 

The entrance is depressingly dark, with the only indication of life being s o m e cars parked 

nearby. Thus, as can be seen from this example, interior amenities must be e m p l o y e d to 

w e l c o m e users. 

O n e may initially confuse this proposition with decorating. It is not. Design is more 

appropriate. The strategic allowance of daylighting is not mere decoration, nor is the 

placement of entrances. Both have implications o n structure and plan that can have more 

impact than decoration o n the physiological and psychological responses of building 

users. As amenities are important in other places of human inhabitation, so they are in 

garages. 

Pedestrian entrance at roof-top parking, 
Oakridge Center, Vancouver Sensitive 
detailing of entrance and panoramic view 
upon entering is respectful to visitors. 

Low headroom and no natural lighting creates 
cavernous atmosphere at parking level 2, 
Washington State Convention and Trade 
Center, Seattle 

84 



Proposition Two: Reinforce local orientation and introduce the building. 

William H. Ittelson, an environmental psychologist, tells us that p e o p l e tend to organize 

their responses and actions around five identifiable m o d e s of analysis; affect, orientation, 

categorization, systemization, and manipulation.^ Individually identifiable, they exist in an 

overlapping and simultaneous context. A brief c o m m e n t about each will aid in presenting 

the current proposition. 

Affect refers to that which immediately impacts our e m o t i o n s . It usually is in response to 

the general ambience and sets the motivational tone for action. Garages clearly have 

ambiences that provoke rather than evoke. General maintenance and design of finishes 

and detailing can result in positive affects. 

Orientation in environmental p s y c h o l o g y usage refers to the most primitive form of 

orientation - the identification of e s c a p e routes. Ittelson suggests that establishing an 

initial mapping of any situation will provide a base for m o r e detailed exploration. With 

respect to parking, a sense of b o u n d s , limits, scale, and the presentation of options of 

route can contribute to this type of orientation. D o i n g so will allow more complete use 

of the on-site possibilities, which in turn can reinforce a local orientation within the urban 

continuum. 

85 

Hostile environ, Butler garage, Seattle. 



Categorization is that which allows for analysis and understanding. Within this realm, the 

identification of building types and places occur. Also, concepts are interpreted here and 

the idea of the building and concept undergoes a distillation process which leads to the 

fourth dimension of systemization. 

O n c e categorized, a system, or set of logical and ordered connections is sought by the 

person perceiving. Predictable events are expected. Patterns are made and u n d e r s t o o d in 

relation to the building. 

Manipulation c o m e s about by the active participation of the individual. By participating, 

the individual re-informs the earlier processes and the entire perceptive experience is 

repeated. Personal forthcoming actions will provide a learning of environmental change in 

accordance to individual needs and purposes. 

Considering the above five modes of analysis, the sequence of approach, particularly the 

occurrences immediately before parking, can help to orient the visitor to the site. There 

are two major types of orientation: o n e that involves site orientation, and another that 

involves building orientation. 

86 



Site Orientation 

Site orientation introduces the site by presenting the visitor with possible routes to and 

from, and, in and around the site. Placement of entrances, sight lines, presentation of 

pathways, visual cues in detailing, and c o m m u n i c a t i o n of plan contribute to effective 

orientation, important for wayfinding. Granville Island a u t o m o b i l e circulation and parking 

is diffused over the entire site, mixing parking with individual events and activities. H e n c e 

a smooth transition is m a d e , and the organization of the site is revealed by the routing of 

circulation. Transit is provided o n site, but its circulation is limited in comparison to that 

of the automobile. Oakridge Center, V a n c o u v e r , is similar in its circulation pattern (that is, 

o n e consisting of a major circulation ring), to that of Granville Island's, but clearly 

separates parking from other activities. H e n c e , the fundamental difference in site 

organization is the relation of the ring to the rest of the site; o n Granville Island, the 

circulation happens within the activity space, whereas the ring at Oakridge surrounds the 

activity area. Although both present options of route o n site, and provide ingress and 

egress information, the circulation at Granville Island by its integration allows internal 

characteristics of buildings to overlap those of the street system, whereas the external 

conditions at Oakridge are quite independent in function and perceived ambience from 

the interior of the s h o p p i n g mall. At O a k r i d g e , exterior a m b i e n c e is influenced by 

adjacent building facades and not by the activity from within the mall. The intention of 

Activity is in center of circulation ring' at 
Oakridge Center. 41st & Cambie, Vancouver. 

87 



F « t M Creek 

Granville Island Parking and Circulation Plan. 
Source: Granville Island April 1986 Plan 
Update.' 

88 



Granville Island Transit and Rail Circulation. In 
comparison to automobile circulation, transit 
is limited. Source: Granville Island April 7986 
Plan Update.' 

89 



this proposition is to unite buildings and sites with their parking areas so that p e o p l e 

arriving at these places by car can obtain a sense for the urban c o n t i n u u m . This gives the 

parking area a quality unique to that site, roots it to location, and makes it easily 

negotiable. 

Site orientation can be a c c o m p l i s h e d by two major devices: the strategic routing of 

circulation, and the use of uninterrupted sight lines. If a garage has sufficient o p e n i n g s o n 

its elevations, orientation can be established through sight lines w h i c h use the buildings 

around the garage as reference points. The garage at the corner of Granville and C o r d o v a 

in Vancouver is ideally suited for this type of orientation. Located o n a corner, with its 

street facing elevations having minimum sight obstruction, this garage has uninterrupted 

sight lines to prominent buildings such as Sinclair Center, 200 Granville Square, C a n a d a 

Place, and the Sea Bus terminal at Waterfront Station, all which can be used to effectively 

orient the user. 

S p e e d reduction occurs w h e n a driver leaves the street system and this is where more 

exacting coordinates can be provided for the visitor. Site orientation is at a larger scale 

than building orientation, and its main function is to provide reference points in important 

features of the building, and where these points are in relation t o the site in terms of 

ingress and egress. The s p e e d of circulation here is less than street circulation, but still 

I 

Garage at corner of Cordova & Granville, 
Vancouver,is ideally suited for using sight-lines 
to the surrounding buildings for orientation. 
Source: The World Trade Center Office 
Complex, Vancouver, BC. 

90 



greater than garage s p e e d which indicates that the scale of forms and details should be 

designed for the occupants of cars. 

Building Orientation 

U p o n entering the garage, s p e e d is r e d u c e d again, and building orientation should be 

made available. That is, characteristics of a building should be presented to people 

arriving by car. Revelation of the structural and mechanical systems en route to parking 

should be used to suggest organization below or above the level at which the car is 

arriving. O n e way to accomplish this may be exposing visitors to various vertical elements 

(elevators, stairwells, mechanical ducts, atria, sight line openings), that reveal or imply their 

uninterrupted continuance - an atrium being an example of a revealed continuance, and 

an elevator being an example of an implied continuance. Pan Pacific Hotel at Canada 

Place is confusing in this regard as the elevators connecting the parking levels continues 

only as far up as the Exhibition level. Another bank of elevators connects that level to the 

rest of the building. 

In addition, implied vertical orientation may be brought about by the replication and 

stacking of striking parts of a building. If, during site orientation, visitors are presented 

91 



with a particular part of the building that was striking and m e m o r a b l e , a skew in floor plan 

causing change of elevation, or change in roof line for example, and if the route to or 

from parking passes through this part at any level, the visitors are potentially afforded a 

reference locale to which they have already experienced in context with the general mass 

of the building. 

This repeating of orientation reassures the visitor of a correctly selected route and lessens 

the anxiety of ' g o i n g in the wrong direction.' Romedi Passini, author of Wayfinding in 

Architecture, refers to this repeating of information as reassurance.4 Passini points out the 

two major functions of reassurance are reducing anxiety (driver related) and refreshing the 

m e m o r y of earlier collected information. A closely related device that can be e m p l o y e d 

for reassurance is scale. Scale is important for user orientation. Mega-structures as 

parkades are confusing as well as alienating. Alienating d o e s not necessarily mean 

oppressive, but large sizes simply make garages less c o m p r e h e n s i b l e . T h e closer to 

human scale the structure and circulation are, the more memorable the s e q u e n c e of 

approach is. 

T w o existing examples that could take advantage of this reassurance are the parking 

a c c o m m o d a t i o n s at R o b s o n Square in Vancouver, and the W a s h i n g t o n State C o n v e n t i o n 

and Trade C e n t e r ( W S C T C ) in Seattle. The vertical circulation between the sub-grade 

9 2 

Key coordinates along Robson Square parking 
circulation, ie. Smithe and Robson Streets, are 
not communicated to visitors. 



parking levels of the Law C o u r t s of R o b s o n Square occurs beneath Smithe Street. Yet, no 

indication is given to patrons that this is so. The scale of the horizontal travel from the 

parking entrance (at H o w e and Nelson) to the north limit of parking (approximately 

beneath R o b s o n Street) is two city blocks, making disorientation a c o m m o n occurrence. 

The W S C T C has a similar disorientation p r o b l e m that c o u l d be remedied much easier than 

the situation at R o b s o n Square simply because W S C T C has above grade parking. Entering 

off of 8th A v e n u e , a patron is led through row u p o n row of parking in an area where sight 

lines to the extremes are not possible because of structural supports. However, a large 

portion of the parking level spans the space above 8th A v e n u e . A sight line connecting 

the Level 3 parking area with 8th avenue w o u l d immediately provide coordinates for a 

visitor, and yet, the wall is completely o p a q u e . A n o p e n i n g in the wall is not difficult here 

as this wall is also the exterior enclosure for the parking area. Since the street system is a 

network already u n d e r s t o o d by p e o p l e using cars, reference to this network can only help 

establish orientation. The fact that the c o m p l e x straddles major arterials differentiates 

W S C T C from most other buildings because other buildings usually d o not impinge o n the 

space above the street system. Interstate 5 as well as 8th A v e n u e pass underneath the 

c o m p l e x indicating a potential for interesting interfaces between visitors (drivers and 

pedestrians) and the c o m p l e x , and a potential for effective orientation. 

Dotted arrows indicate potential sight-lines to 
Pike Street and 8th Avenue are possible. 
Washington State Convention and Trade 
Center, Seattle 

Source: 'Seattle the Mew West.' WSCTC 
administration. 

93 



A n important c o n s e q u e n c e of providing an orientation is that it inherently situates the 

parked car for easy relocation. 

Proposition Three: Root the garage to "place." 

This proposition deals more qualitatively with a sense of location (see page 50) for the 

garage itself, and is meant to compliment building orientation. 

Contemporary parking structures, by having neutrality as an innate characteristic, are 

antithetical to a traditional notion of architecture understands architecture to involve the 

revelation of place and time. M o r e o v e r , with specific regard to garages, automobiles are 

e m b e d d e d urban artifacts. They possess an urban contextual quality of which urban 

settings are incomplete without. Their communication is both physical and social; their 

role is not neutral. Strategies to negate neutrality and to integrate the driver's role are 

thus appropriate. 

Time and place in architecture can be brought about by the use of indigenous materials, 

construction techniques, and building types. Sensitive response to a site's historic 

significance, climate, use, how it exists within a network of other sites, can result in a 

94 



definite here for the garage itself, and because here is recognizably coherent, it is the 

strongest means to counter the neutral tendency of traditional parking garages. History 

and overlapping activities with automobile circulation and parking can express a change 

owing to time that allows a different interpretation of purpose, which in turn can lead to 

an adaptive re-use of the historic integrity already e m b o d i e d by the primary buildings and 

site. Granville Island is an example. This d o e s not mean that new construction with 

regards to garage design is limited to using historicized motifs. Individuality can be 

brought about by recognizing the uniqueness of cars, and how to integrate the activity of 

them and their drivers with that of buildings. This individuality should not be confused 

with exclusiveness which better describes the situation where the garage and its function 

are not integrated with those of other buildings. Instead, individuality is intended to 

negate neutrality by providing an identity for the garage, albeit in juxtaposition to the 

building. As C u l l e n has pointed out, "the effects of juxtaposition are in themselves as 

exciting as the objects juxtaposed - often more s o . " ^ 

Juxtaposition can be used for activities as well as objects. Newspaper stands, mobile 

expresso bars, public information and advertising billboards, artwork such as wall murals, 

can all be juxtaposed in the immediate proximity of parking areas to overlap uses. This 

overlap gives a uniqueness of location, and is another means of negating neutrality. 

95 



Superficially applied historic motifs have the distinct drawback of being perceived as a d d -

ons and decorative design. Therefore, it is important to note that the p o t e n c y of historic 

context arises from authenticity. The site, h o w p e o p l e use it, h o w the sun and wind affect 

the microclimate, history, and gestures for the future all contribute to strong themes. A 

metaphorical interpretation that alludes to the historic significance of the site is o n e way 

to secure a degree of here. C a n a d a Place has a strong theme, a bit literal perhaps, but 

strong just the same. The building resembles a ship in full sail, and its position o n the 

Burrard Inlet is an appropriate setting. What is interesting about the parking, is that 

because of the ship analogy, parking is reminiscent of boarding a ferry. Minimal 

clearances, sharp entry/exit ramps, and o p e n steel structural m e m b e r s support this feeling 

in the parking levels. 

A n interesting p h e n o m e n o n c o n c e r n i n g history is that without it, applied interpretations 

feel temporary and arbitrary, and Frederic Jameson has termed this temporariness 

schizophrenic^ Places where history is easily read are perceived as permanent, and 

integral with their surroundings. They express a reason for being there. Implicated is the 

history of garages, and perhaps the evolution of the central involvement of the car. 

However, romanticism can be the result of misused historic context. Romanticism in this 

manner c o n c e d e s to the past as the only source of inspiration. This skepticism of future 

Elevation of Canada Place. Source: Canada 
Place; Where Vancouver Meets the World." 

Sharp ramp grades, close quarters, the ocean 
and views thereof, the thip metaphor, all make 
the parking entrance.exit at Canada Place. 
Vancouver. reminiscent of ferry 
embarking debarking 

96 



d e v e l o p m e n t has b e e n criticized as b e i n g an archaeological 'ruining' of architecture. It 

promises no h o p e of things to c o m e and is rigidly f o c u s e d o n experiences that cannot b e . 

In essence, its p r e c o n c e i v e d aging is n o m o r e valid than the condition of p o s t - m o d e r n i s m 

which Jameson refers to as paranoia. C o n f u s i o n arises between engaging history and 

historicizing and the latter should b e v i e w e d with caution. The recognition of historic 

authenticity is however, important to give sustenance and integrity to the place. Granville 

Bridge is a fitting introduction for the industrial vernacular of Granville Island. 

In Irwin's usage, "what was, how it c a m e to be, what it is, and what it may c o m e to b e " ® 

is essential to the evolution of any particular site and is equally important for authenticity. 

Historic nuances can situate a place (garage) in a time period and can thus fix it. Joel 

Shack in a critique of architects using "industrial archaeology"^ suggests that authenticity 

is born from revealing origins. H e refers to this quality as Place-Story and implicit in his 

discussion is the setting for human action. H e uses Port Alberni Harbor Q u a y o n 

Vancouver Island as an example. A n o t h e r example is Pioneer Square in Seattle. During 

the evening hours, the large n u m b e r of p e o p l e patronizing their favourite drinking 

establishments, night clubs, and restaurants, gives Pioneer Square a sense that it is a place 

of vital urban participation. By providing s o m e story of a place, a setting is established in 

which the visitor may partake. Settings sometimes include artifacts which in themselves 

97 

A firing kiln is an artifact of Granville Island's 
legacy 



tell a story. The firing kiln in o n e of the Granville Island parking garages hints at the 

building's legacy. This too, may be a source of negating neutrality in garage design. 

Proposition Four: Reveal the integrity of building assembly. 

A means to achieve an integrity of building assembly is to articulate forms and joints in 

construction. 

Heidegger's usage of techne and poiesis^® can be used as inspiration for this proposition. 

Revealing to Heidegger is not to mean making and manipulating. Making and 

manipulating belong in the realm of process, whereas revealing is an expression of the 

thing itself. Heidegger uses the example of a blossom bursting into b l o o m to 

communicate this idea. In architecture, this revealing is the interplay of the parts, and 

how they d e p e n d on each other. Poiesis is concerned with revealing ends, means, and 

origins. Infatuation with the technical does not offer a sense of ends, nor any specific 

origin. In such a case, the end is confused as the making of the object itself and not as 

the e n d to which the object serves. For example, pre-fabricated rafters stacked up o n the 

ground d o not express their belonging until supporting a roof structure. 

98 



Revealing in contemporary usage is centered on manipulation. The expression of the 

garage is entirely one of technical efficiency, with its precise conditions. The revealing of 

which Heidegger suggests, the revealing of which garages design can c o n c e r n itself with, 

is the bringing fort/711 of its forms and construction. This bringing forth is evident in 

bridge construction. Discernible human involvement is present (oversized turn-buckles, 

nuts and bolt heads implying wrenches) which makes the experience of perceiving bridges 

immediate. Piping, handrails, electrical raceways, ticket machines, beam and c o l u m n 

c o n n e c t i o n s , Georgian wired glass, plate fasteners, lag screws, suspension systems, panic 

hardware and d o o r closers, lighting systems, edge finishes, all are areas that can be 

d e v e l o p e d in garage design to bring about a integrity of expression, and with it a 

human/mechanical dialogue. For example, construction around openings admitting 

daylight, can express the tending to the natural p h e n o m e n o n (in this case sunlight), its 

n e e d in human applications (by the pleasing affect it brings), and the t e c h n o l o g y 

e m p l o y e d to meet this human need (the use and strength of lintels and glass). It is this 

multi-faceted perception that is the aim of articulating forms and joints in construction. 

Articulated forms naturally attract attention, and as such, are important not only for an 

integrity of architecture, but also for site and building orientation. Architecturally sensitive 

buildings usually set up a hierarchy of forms, bringing attention to specific locales in or of 

99 



the building. For example, an atrium may be highlighted because it can be a focal point. 

These forms can usually be spotted from the exterior, as the skylight of the atrium can. 

The garage, by having its o w n identity, can articulate itself in much the same way. 

Bringing more attention to the garage c o u l d make ingress and egress routes easy to 

remember and thus, less confusing. M o r e important though is that articulation 

communicates a positive intent. 

Revealing can bring about environmental discovery. Lynch refers to this m o d e of 

perception and action as a learning ecology. Implicit in his discussion is that p e o p l e 

need to learn and discover their natural and built environs. Mark Francis of the University 

of California, Davis, has pointed out that an important ingredient of successful urban 

spaces is its ability to foster environmental learning: 

"The public environment teaches a city's inhabitants about its past...It is 

here we b e c o m e competent in reading and understanding our built 

environment...fantasy and objects people discover as they use a space 

make public spaces more meaningful. As Lynch suggests, much of the risk 

and challenge has been removed from our public environments...Users of 

a space must maintain direct control of places, making them "ours" as 

13 
o p p o s e d to 'theirs.'" 

100 



D i s c o v e r / , meaning, delight, challenge, and participation can all be attributes of 

articulating forms and joints. A n example is the view tower and its use at Lonsdale Q u a y . 

The learning of construction joinery (of the tower itself), the challenge of climbing, the 

discovery of the surrounding view, all contribute to an active learning by an individual and 

give meaning to the tower's existence. 

H e n c e , there are two major reasons for articulating forms and joints. Frascari has correctly 

pointed out that it is in the joint where a construing of the construction gives strength to 

a sense of architectural integrity. The second reason is revelation and articulation can 

potentially bring about an environmental learning and an understanding of built forms. 

These are the qualities that can supplement the pragmatism of garages by engaging the 

p e o p l e using them. 

It is of note that, although a large proportion of contemporary parking structures are 

barren, generic, and uninteresting, there exist a number of examples which d o not have 

these negative characteristics. Moreover, the garages that were not generic, have within 

them traces of the attributes of which the above propositions seek. 

101 

View lower at Lonsdale Quay. North 
Vancouver. encourages environmental 
learning. 



Granville Island is an example of a design which integrates well the role of the driver into 

its c o n c e p t . Using the historic significance, that is, the industrial legacy of the locale, 

adaptive re-use of existing structures is successful for drivers and pedestrians. Circulation 

is an orienting experience as well as a learning one, stirring interest and the imagination. 

Authenticity was established by respecting the Island's history, giving the buildings a 

permanence and integrity of expression. All of this roots the site and its buildings to 

place, and allows p e o p l e to embark. 

This in itself is interesting because in areas such as shopping centers, there is a sharper 

division between driver area and pedestrian area. The parking beneath Pacific Center, 

having n o orienting qualities, historic content, and amenities for human inhabitation, feels 

detached from the continuum to which Lynch refers. 

Metaphorical connections are made in s o m e garages such as Canada Place. The 

surrounding context, both natural and architectural were r e s p o n d e d to in a way that gives 

the building a newness, but a newness that respects the heritage of the waterfront. 

Moreover, it hints at the human/mechanical dialogue by its metaphorical expression of a 

ship. M e n t i o n e d earlier was its ferry-boarding effect. 

102 



Another interesting note of C a n a d a Place is the detailing a n d lighting of the Cruise Ship 

Level. The exterior staging area for vehicles is finished in a very similar manner to that of 

the interior of the exhibition halls. This gives recognition to those arriving by vehicles. 

The entrance to the Pan Pacific Hotel, albeit down-played from the o n e at street level, is 

sensitively finished with glazing, complete with n e o n signage. Mirrors that increase the 

ambience of pedestrian activity have b e e n placed o n the white rectangular columns in the 

bays. The west wall is completely glazed, (the glazing divided into a grid pattern), and this 

glazing affords a view of Burrard Inlet and with it, ample natural daylighting. T h e 

pedestrian activity, moving machines, sensitive detailing, and natural daylighting, is 

appropriate to a place where embarkation and debarkation is staged. 

Examples exist where orientation can or c o u l d have b e e n further d e v e l o p e d as identified 

above in the designs of R o b s o n Square and the Washington State C o n v e n t i o n and Trade 

Center. Opportunities exist in their configurations that w o u l d allow direct sight lines, and 

vertical c o n n e c t i o n s , both implied or revealed, to be made. These c o n n e c t i o n s and sight 

lines would aid in a negotiable wayfinding in these buildings. 

Reception in entrance design was not e n c o u n t e r e d in a convincing degree, w h i c h 

indicates a p r o b l e m area. O n e notable entrance was City C e n t e r , Vancouver. Its expressly 

thematic entrance t h o u g h , is sensational, displaced in time, and has a ring of theatrics 

Similar detailing inside and outside of staging 
area at Canada Place Cruise Ship Level 
provide respect and smooth transition 

103 



about it. It does however, grant status to the p e o p l e using the garage. O n e result of the 

coherent theatrics used at City C e n t e r is that the detailing approaches the condition of 

which Frascari refers to as joint. Even though the expression of the garage entrance is 

somewhat contrived, it carries a sense of permanence about it and possesses integrity 

because it indicates what the rest of the building carries as an expression. In most other 

parking structures, no indication is given to what the quality of the destination may be. 

As well, articulation of forms and joints in construction was not encountered as decisive. 

Granville Island garage structure, although very expressive, is a unique situation because of 

the Island's status and heritage. M o s t other garages were constructed in very ordinary 

terms. C a n a d a Place was again of note because of its use of steel beams in the parking 

levels, and elements such as G e o r g i a n wired glass and heavy steel d o o r hardware. The 

Washington State C o n v e n t i o n and Trade Center has similar structural design. The steel 

beams sometimes revealed their b o l t e d and w e l d e d c o n n e c t i o n s , and the angles in which 

they met c o m m u n i c a t e d an idea of stability, transferring the forces of gravity to the 

g r o u n d . 

A n interesting example of overlapping activities can be e n c o u n t e r e d in the Chinatown 

district of Vancouver. A surface parking lot at G o r e and G e o r g i a , has juxtaposed next to 

it, activity of a market type. R a n d o m p r o d u c e stands have b e e n erected and the activity of 

Garage entrance to City Center. 12th & 
Cambie. Vancouver, is expressively thematic, 
almost Piranesian (Carceri series). and 
indicates what expression the entire complex 
carries. 

Structural steel beams and columns, 
Washington State Convention and Trade 
Center, Seattle, express constnjctional integrity 
and stability 

104 



retail sales occurs in the immediate proximity of the parking area. This however, is an 

example specific to C h i n a t o w n , where the activity of open-air-market retailing is standard. 

O f the areas in which parking structures were surveyed, perhaps only o n e area a p p r o a c h e d 

a level of having attributes of all the above propositions. That area is Granville Island. Its 

weakest point is site orientation. Because of its irregular circulation pattern, first-time 

visitors may have difficulty in establishing on-site bearings. Its other qualities are worth 

noting as has been d o n e throughout this thesis. Granville Island access, circulation, and 

parking structure serves as a transitional link b e t w e e n the urban street system and Granville 

Island and, as such, contributes to the urban continuity. 

105 

Random market stalls erected in close 
proximity to surface parking lot, Chinatown, 
Vancouver. 



Chapter Five 

C O N C L U S I O N 

From the outset, it was of interest to investigate the potential that the automobile/driver 

combination c o u l d have in architectural design. Preliminary observations indicated a 

tendency exists which separates the activity of parking from other activities of buildings 

and places. Whether an independent garage, or one which is part of a larger complex (a 

s h o p p i n g center, for example), o n e characteristic was clear - their utilitarian function in 

relation to site and place. As a c o n s e q u e n c e , barren and sometimes hostile atmospheres 

often resulted in garages using storage as the primary design concern. Because 

possession of an automobile and the experiences derived from driving o n e are so 

completely a part of daily routine, of interest was the possibility of integrating the function 

of garages with other buildings and activities that these garages may be associated with, 

and of o v e r c o m i n g the barren and hostile environments of traditional garages. 

From the field observations, it was clear that most parking garages included the driving 

experience only to the extent of parking a car, and in such garages, deliberation and 

106 



civility were not influences in their designs. This has the effect of excluding active 

participation (beyond that of following signs) on the part of the visitor. M o n o t o n o u s 

exteriors and interiors were characteristic of such garages. Also evident from the field 

observations was the fact that architectural design for most garages was concentrated o n 

the facades and the internal workings and their functional relation to other places 

remained primarily utilitarian. As a result, the facade treatment related more to the role of 

decoration (and is perceived as such), leaving bleak interiors to be found by p e o p l e using 

these garages. This lack of respect and amenity decreases sharply the possibilities for the 

garage to contribute to the site, and also decreases sharply the chance for an 

environmental awareness. The exclusion of individual participation and denial of 

occupation, that is, the taking of places, are responsible for the disorienting and alienating 

environs of garages. These deficiencies contribute to what the thesis refers to as a 

fracturing of urban continuity. As most garages contribute to this discontinuity, a parking 

study c o n d u c t e d by the Vancouver City Engineering Department was used to discern what 

fraction of the downtown commercial area was devoted to parking. The result warrants 

consideration; thirty two percent of the gross built space in the survey area (1983) was 

o c c u p i e d by structured parking. This percentage does not include surface or curb 

parking. Indicated, is the urgency to reassess the role of parking structures. 

107 



A theory to elevate the role of the automobile/driver that directly implicates garage design 

and site circulation is presented. Drawing primarily from the philosophy of Heidegger, 

integrated function with regards to parking garages via expanded program and tactility is 

p r o p o s e d as a philosophical design approach whose aim is fourfold; to g r o u n d 

architecture in experience, to provide a theater for human action, to establish a certainty 

of place, but above all, to bring back a sense of urban continuity by expanding the 

c o n c e p t of traditional garages. From this approach four propositions are presented: o n e , 

design the entire building with amenities for human inhabitation, two, reinforce local 

orientation and introduce the building, three, root the garage to "place," and four, reveal 

the integrity of building assembly. These propositions are presented in an attempt to 

reach a state of architectural integrity resulting from a sensitivity for the balance between 

subjective and objective perceptions of buildings. They are meant to offer an alternative 

way of conceptualizing the design of parking structures. 

The propositions are revolutionary only insofar as they have not been engaged in the 

design of most urban building types. Heidegger's philosophy is acknowledged, but 

manifestation of that philosophy is infrequent in buildings. The thesis proposes to engage 

this p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l position as a design catalyst for parking garages, structures having 

potential of contributing to the urban continuum. 

108 



By engaging the users of garages, their function can be integrated with other buildings 

and activities to which they are associated. In connection with this, it is suggested that 

facilitating a positive environmental awareness and eliciting active participation could bring 

about discovery, delight, challenge, and control, all of which c o u l d add meaning to 

garages. 

Utility is a c k n o w l e d g e d as a prerequisite (that is, garages, as part of their function, must 

store cars), but only as a prerequisite requiring supplementation. Practicality in its singular 

and exclusive state cannot exist alone as a building determinant in a multi-faceted urban 

network of destinations and activities. H e n c e , the philosophical design approach 

proposes using human experience via tactility and expanded program in an attempt to 

reach a state of garage architecture in which the routine of parking can be meshed with a 

collage of urban activity that promotes positive environmental awareness. 

The potential for garage design lies in the reconsideration of its traditional premise. It is 

this single urban building typology, that has evolved slowly in architectural qualities, that is 

potentially a catalyst for the continuity of urban activity and movement. It is o d d that this 

significant urban building type remains to be determined only by pragmatism. Robert 

Irwin, a contemporary Los Angeles artist, commenting o n the subject of aesthetics, 

109 



proffers a reason: 

"What appeared to be a question of object/non-object has turned out to 

be a question of seeing and not seeing, of how it is we actually perceive 

or fail to perceive "things" in their real contexts." 1 

The garage has been overlooked as a potentially major contributor to the urban fabric. 

There are existing examples from which the architectural evolution of garages can benefit. 

These examples have one c o m m o n thread - they include visitors in ways b e y o n d utility 

and elicit positive participation and interpretation. 

Architects must look u p o n the garage as an architectural possibility. It is in fact, o n e like 

any other by virtue of the fact that the garage is a place, only one presently lacking 

positive associations. It belongs within the realm of architecture and is to the service of 

human dwelling. The practice of architecture involves statics, assembly, construction, and 

dwelling which puts these things in time and place. The garage as any other building, is 

capable of possessing qualities provocative of a context that elicits positive awareness. T o 

realize this potential, it is necessary to acknowledge individual and subjective assessments 

as valid criterion in the design of parking structures. 

110 



N O T E S 

Chapter O n e 

1. Silk, Gerald. A u t o m o b i l e and Culture. N e w York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. p.100. 

2. Ibid, p.205. 

3. Ibid. p.97. 

4. Ibid, p.100. 

5. Lefebvre, Henri. Everyday Life in the M o d e r n W o r l d . L o n d o n : Penguin Press, 1971. 

p.100. 

6. Silk, Gerald. Automobile and Culture. New York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. p.297. 

7 Ibid: p.27 

8. A m h e i m , Rudolf A . The Dynamics of Architectural Form. Berkeley: University of 
California Press, 1977. p.21. 



9. Webster's II N e w Riverside University Dictionary. Boston: H o u g h t o n Mifflin C o m p a n y , 
1984. p.824: operation 

10. Bloomer, Kent and Charles M o o r e . Body, Memory, and Architecture. New Haven: 
Yale University Press, 1977. p.62. 

11. M u m f o r d , Lewis. 'Art and T e c h n i c s / i n The Lewis M u m f o r d Reader. D. Miller, e d . New 
York: Pantheon Books, 1986. p.355. 

12. Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition. Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1958. 
p.154. 

13. McCarter, Robert. 'Escape from the Revolving Door: Architecture and the Machine,' in 
Pamphlet Architecture 12: Building and Machines. R. McCarter, e d . New Jersey: 
Princeton Architectural Press, 1987. p.11. 

14. Lynch, Kevin. G o o d City Form. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981; reprint, Cambridge: MIT 
Press, 1985) p.116 (page reference is to reprint edition). 

15. City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. Vancouver Parking Study: Technical Appendix  
' A ' , Parking Policy Background Report. Vancouver: 1984. p.76. 

16. City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. Vancouver Parking Study: Technical Appendix 
' B ' , 1983 D o w n t o w n Parking Survey. Vancouver: City of Vancouver, 1984. Table I. 

17. City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. Vancouver Parking Study: Technical Appendix  
' A ' , 1983 D o w n t o w n Parking Survey. Vancouver: City of Vancouver, 1984. Table 
2. p.30 

112 



18. Parking Consultants Council, National Parking Association. The Dimensions of Parking. 
Washington: Urban Land Institute and National Parking Association, 1979. p.33. 

note: the above source quotes figures ranging from 300 to 400 square feet. In 
consultation with Bill M c C r e e r y Architect, of Vancouver, B.C., who has 
considerable experience with parking structures, a figure of 325 square feet is 
presented as appropriate. 

19. Silk, Gerald. Automobile and Culture. New York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. p.255. 

20. McCullar, Michael. 'P/A Inquiry: Garage Mechanics,' Progressive Architecture 
( N o v e m b e r 1987): p.107. 

21. Ibid, p.106. 

22. Lynch, Kevin. G o o d City Form. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981; reprint, Cambridge: MIT 
Press, 1985) p.116 (page reference is to reprint edition). 

Chapter T w o 

1. McCullar, Michael. 'P/A Inquiry: Garage Mechanics,' Progressive Architecture 
( N o v e m b e r 1987): p.107. 

2. Silk, Gerald. Automobile and Culture. N e w York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. p.119. 

113 



3. Jackson, J.B. "The Social Landscape" in Selected Writings of J.B. Jackson. Ervin H. 
Rube, e d . University of Massachusetts Press, 1971. p.150. 

4. Lefebvre, Henri. Everyday Life in the M o d e r n W o r l d . L o n d o n : Penguin Press, 1971. 
p.102. 

5. Jackson, J.B. "The Social Landscape" in Selected Writings of J.B. Jackson. Ervin H. 
Rube, e d . University of Massachusetts Press, 1971. p. 150. 

6. Jackson, J.B. "The Social Landscape" in Selected Writings of J.B. Jackson. Ervin H. 
Rube, e d . University of Massachusetts Press, 1971. p. 150. 

7. Baudrillard, Jean. 'The Ecstasy of Communication,'in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n 
Postmodern Culture. H. Foster e d . Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. p. 127. 

8. Ibid: p.127. 

9. Banham, Reyner. Theory and Design in the First Machine A g e . (London: The 
Architectural Press, 1960; reprint, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1983), p.324 (page 
reference is to reprint edition). 

Chapter Three 

1. Mccullar, Michael. 'P/A Inquiry: Garage Mechanics,' Progressive Architecture 68 
(November 1987): 110. 

114 



2. Chidister, Mark. 'Reconsidering the Piazza,' Landscape Architecture 78 (February 
1988): 42. 

3. Ibid. p.41. 

4. Ibid. p.42. 

5. Heidegger, Martin. 'The Q u e s t i o n C o n c e r n i n g T e c h n o l o g y / i n Martin Heidegger: Basic  
Writings. D.F. Krell, e d . N e w York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p.294. 

6. Heidegger, Martin. 'Building, Dwelling, Thinking,' in Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings. 
D.F. Krell, e d . New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p.323-324. 

7. Ibid: p.332. 

8. Leatherbarrow, David. "Janus and the Idea of the Facade," in Semiotics: Proceedings  
of the 10th Annual Meeting of the Semiotic Society of America. New York: Plenum 
Press, 1985. p.701. 

9. Ibid: p.704. 

10. Pfau, Peter and W e s Jones. 'Primitive Huts, 1985,'in Pamphlet Architecture 12: 
Building and Machines. R. McCarter, e d . New Jersey: Princeton Architectural Press, 
1987. p. 49 

11. Heidegger, Martin. T h e Q u e s t i o n C o n c e r n i n g T e c h n o l o g y / i n Martin Heidegger: Basic  
Writings. D.F. Krell, e d . N e w York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p. 317. 

115 



12. Pfau, Peter and W e s Jones. 'Primitive Huts, 1985,'in Pamphlet Architecture 12: 
Building and Machines. R. McCarter, e d . New Jersey: Princeton Architectural Press, 
1987. p.54. 

13. Heidegger, Martin. T h e Question C o n c e r n i n g Technology,'in Martin Heidegger: Basic 
Writings. D.F. Krell, ed. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p. 301. 

14. Heidegger, Martin. T h e Question C o n c e r n i n g T e c h n o l o g y / i n Martin Heidegger: Basic 
Writings. D.F. Krell, ed. New York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p. 309. 

15. Ittelson, William H. ed. Environment and C o g n i t i o n . New York: Seminar Press, 1973. 
p.3,9. 

16. Frampton, Kenneth. 'Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of 
Resistance/in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n Postmodern Culture. H. Foster e d . 
Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. p.28. 

17. Frampton, Kenneth. 'Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of 
Resistance/in The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n Postmodern Culture. H. Foster e d . 
Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. p.28. 

18. Ibid. p.29. 

19. Ibid. p.28. 

20. Bloomer, Kent and Charles M o o r e . Body, M e m o r y , and Architecture. N e w Haven: 

Yale University Press, 1977. p. 105. 

116 



21. McCullar, Michael. 'P/A Inquiry: Garage Mechanics,' Progressive Architecture 
(November 1987): p.16. McCullar, Michael. 'P/A Inquiry: Garage 
Mechanics,' Progressive Architecture (November 1987): p.111. 

22. Irwin, Robert. Being and Circumstance. Larkspur Landing, California: Lapis Press, 1985. 
p.28. 

23. Ibid. p19. 

24. Bloomer, Kent and Charles M o o r e . Body, M e m o r y , and Architecture. New Haven: 
Yale University Press, 1977. p. 34. 

25. Bloomer, Kent and Charles M o o r e . Body, M e m o r y , and Architecture. New Haven: 
Yale University Press, 1977. p.35. 

26. Irwin, Robert. Being and Circumstance. Larkspur Landing, California: Lapis Press, 1985. 
p.24. 

27. McCarter, Robert. 'Escape from the Revolving D o o r : Architecture and the Machine,' in 
Pamphlet Architecture 12: Building and Machines. R. McCarter, ed. New Jersey: 
Princeton Architectural Press, 1987. p.11. 

28. Ibid: p.11. 

29. Ibid: p.11. 

30. Silk, Gerald. A u t o m o b i l e and Culture. New York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. p.79. 

117 



31. Lagan, Thomas. Merleau-Ponty's Critique of Reason. New Haven: Yale University 
Press, 1966. p.322. 

32. Norberg-Schulz, Christian. The C o n c e p t of Dwelling. N e w York: Rizzoli International 
Publications, Inc., 1985. p.19. 

33. Pfau, Peter and W e s Jones. 'Primitive Huts, 1985,' in Pamphlet Architecture 12: 
Building and Machines. R. McCarter, e d . New Jersey: Princeton Architectural Press, 
1987. p. 48-51. 

34. Frascari, Marco. "The Tell-the-Tale Detail," VIA 7. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984. 

p.32. 

35. Ibid: p.24. 

36. Ibid: p.35. 

Chapter Four 

1. Shaffer, Garnett S. and L.M. A n d e r s o n . 'Perceptions of the Security and Attractiveness 
of Urban Parking Lots,' Journal of Environmental Psychology 5 ( D e c e m b e r 1985): 
311-323. 

2. Ibid: p.320. 

118 



3. Ittelson, William H. ed. Environment and Cognition. New York: Seminar Press, 1973. 
p.17. 

4. Passini, Romedi. Wayfinding in Architecture. N e w York: Van Nostrand Reinhold 
C o m p a n y , 1984. p.106. 

5. Cullen, G o r d o n . The Concise Townscape. London: Van Nostrand Reinhold C o m p a n y , 
1983. p. 189. 

6. Jameson, Frederic. 'Postmodernism and C o n s u m e r Society/in The Anti-Aesthetic:  
Essays o n Postmodern Culture, H . Foster, e d . Seattle, Wa.: Bay Press, 1983. 
p.118-123. 

7. McCarter, Robert. 'Escape from the Revolving Door: Architecture and the Machine,' in 
Pamphlet Architecture 12: Building and Machines. R. McCarter, ed. New Jersey: 
Princeton Architectural Press, 1987. p. 10. 

8. Irwin, Robert. Being and Circumstance. Larkspur Landing, California: Lapis Press, 1985. 
p.28. 

9. Shack, Joel. 'Cultivating a Place-Story,' The Canadian Architect. O c t o b e r 1986: 22. 

10. Heidegger, Martin. 'The Q u e s t i o n C o n c e r n i n g Technology,' in Martin Heidegger: 
Basic Writings. D.F. Krell, e d . N e w York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p.294. 

11. Heidegger, Martin. 'The Q u e s t i o n C o n c e r n i n g Technology,' in Martin Heidegger: 
Basic Writings. D.F. Krell, e d . N e w York: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1977. p.293. 

119 



12. Lynch, Kevin. G o o d City Form. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1981; reprint, Cambridge: MIT 
Press, 1985) p.116 (page reference is to reprint edition). 

13. Francis, Mark. 'Changing Values for Public Spaces,' Landscape Architecture 78 
(February 1988): 58. 

Chapter Five 

Irwin, Robert. Being and Circumstance. Larkspur Landing, California: Lapis Press, 1985. 
p.29. 

120 



S O U R C E S 

Arendt, Hannah. The Human C o n d i t i o n . Chicago: University of C h i c a g o Press, 1958. 

Arnheim, Rudolf A . The Dynamics of Architectural Form. Berkeley: University of California 
Press, 1977. 

Banham, Reyner. Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. London: The Architectural 
Press, 1960; reprint, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1983. 

Baudrillard, Jean. "The Ecstasy of C o m m u n i c a t i o n . " The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n  
Postmodern Culture. H. Foster, ed. Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. 

Berube, Margery S., e d . Webster's II N e w Riverside University Dictionary. Boston: 
H o u g h t o n Mifflin C o m p a n y , 1984. 

Bloomer, Kent, and Charles M o o r e . Body, Memory, and Architecture. New Haven: Yale 
University Press, 1977. 

Chidister, Mark. "Reconsidering the Piazza." Landscape Architecture 78 (February 1988): 
40-42. 

City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. Vancouver Parking Study: Technical A p p e n d i x " A " ,  
Parking Policy Background Report. Vancouver: 1984. 

121 



City of Vancouver Engineering Dept. Vancouver Parking Study: Technical Appendix " B " ,  
1983 D o w n t o w n Parking Survey. Vancouver: City of Vancouver, 1984. 

Cullen, G o r d o n . The C o n c i s e Townscape. L o n d o n : Van Nostrand Reinhold C o m p a n y , 
1983. 

Foster, Hal, e d . The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n Postmodern Culture. Seattle, Washington: 
Bay Press, 1983. 

Frampton, Kenneth. "Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of 
Resistance." In The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays o n Postmodern Culture, H. Foster, e d . 
Seattle, Washington: Bay Press, 1983. 

Francis, Mark. " C h a n g i n g Values for Public Spaces." Landscape Architecture 78 (February 
1988): 54-59. 

Frascari, Marco. "The Tell-the-Tale Detail," in VIA 7. Cambrdige, Mass.: MIT Press, 1984. 

Irwin, Robert. Being and Circumstance. Larkspur Landing/California: Lapis Press, 1985. 

Ittelson, William H., e d . Environment and C o g n i t i o n . New York: Seminar Press, 1973. 

Jameson, Frederic. "Postmodernism and C o n s u m e r Society." In The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays  
on Postmodern Culture, H. Foster, e d . Seattle, W a . : Bay Press, 1983. 

Krell, David Farrell, e d . Martin Heidegger: Basic Writings. New York: Harper and Row, 
Publishers, 1977. 

122 



Lagan, Thomas. Merleau-Ponty's Critique of Reason. New Haven: Yale University Press, 
1966. 

Lefebvre, Henri. Everyday Life in the M o d e m World. London: Penguin Press, 1971. 

Lynch, Kevin. G o o d City Form. Cambridge, Mass.: 1981; reprint, Cambridge, Mass., 1985. 

McCarter, Robert, e d . Pamphlet Architecture 12: Building and Machines. N e w Jersey: 
Princeton Architectural Press, 1987. 

McCullar, Michael. "P/A Inquiry: Garage Mechanics." Progressive Architecture ( N o v e m b e r 
1987): 106-111. 

Miller, D o n a l d , e d . The Lewis M u m f o r d Reader. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. 

Norberg-Schulz, Christian. The C o n c e p t of Dwelling. New York: Rizzoli International 
Publications, Inc., 1985. 

Passini, Romedi. Wayfinding in Architecture. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold C o m p a n y , 
1984. 

Perez-Gomez, Alberto. Architecture and the Crisis of M o d e r n Science. Cambridge: MIT 
Press, 1983. 

Shack, Joel. "Cultivating a Place-Story." The Canadian Architect. ( O c t o b e r 1986): 20-27. 

123 



Shaffer, Carnett S. and L.M. A n d e r s o n . "Perceptions of the Security and Attractiveness of 
Urban Parking Lots." Journal of Environmental Psychology 5 (December 1985): 
311-323. 

Silk, Gerald. A u t o m o b i l e and Culture. N e w York: Harry Abrams, Inc., 1984. 

Venturi, Robert. Learning From Las Vegas. Rev. e d . Cambridge: MIT Press, 1972, reprint, 
Cambridge: MIT Press, 1985. 

124 



Appendix A 

THE SELECTION O F OBSERVATIONS FOR FIELD S T U D Y 

The field observations were d o n e concentrating on 6 general areas of parking. They are: 

7. Approach 

A p p r o a c h I take to mean the route a car must follow that is part of the street 

system. A p p r o a c h can be broken down into two main phases: distant approach, 

where view corridors and general or silhouette massing can be considerations, and 

near approach, where more detailed massing and site orientation begins. 

2. Entry/exit 

Similar to a gate or doorway, the entry marks the e n d of the street system and 

beginning of the arrival path. In many cases, it is nothing more than a depression 

in the sidewalk or an opening in a facade. S p e e d reduction usually occurs u p o n 

entry. By reducing the speed of the incoming car, a transition is already in 

progress from street to building. 

3. Control 

Control usually occurs in the form of ticket machine or parking attendant. C o n t r o l 

can be located anywhere along the arrival path, but usually is situated near the 

entry. C o n t r o l is sometimes passive (warning signs to non patrons using private 

parking lots) or non-existent (major shopping centers) when parking is free. 

125 



4. Arrival I exit Path 

Arrival path is that part of the circulation route which leads from the street to the 

parking area. It may be long or short depending o n proximity of parking to street 

system. If path is long, control may be situated further away from street system so 

that the arrival path can d o u b l e as a reservoir for incoming traffic. 

5. Parking 
That area where cars are parked and a connection to the building is initiated. 

6. Connection to/from Building 

The path from the parking area to the building and the path from the building 

back to the car. As wayfinding is important to arrive, it is also important to 

relocate the automobile for departure. 

These general areas by category d o not describe such considerations as detailing, 

daylighting and so o n . These considerations however related, are of a different dimension 

and might be better termed means. Some means are as follows: 

symbolism 
detailing (themes/materials) 
daylighting 
plan/configuration 
haptics 
sight lines 
scale 

C o n s i d e r i n g the means, together with the 6 general areas of parking, the propositions 

were d e v e l o p e d . It would be redundant to discuss h o w each individual proposition 

affects each area of parking, or which means corresponds to what other variable. The 

126 



reason is that they all are interdependent, that is, different means can be used for different 

areas and propositions. 

A list of some of the more salient garages that contributed to this thesis is as follows: 

1. 760 Water Street, Vancouver, B.C. 

2. Butler Garage, 2nd Ave. & James, Seattle, W A . 

3. Canada Place, Vancouver, B.C. 

4. City Center, 12th & Cambie, Vancouver, B . C . 

5. C o r d o v a & Richards, Vancouver, B.C. 

6. Fraser Parkade, U B C Campus, Vancouver, B . C . 

7. Gasworks Park, Seattle, W A . 

8. Granville & C o r d o v a , Vancouver, B.C. 

9. Granville Island, Vancouver, B.C. 

10. Lonsdale Quay, Vancouver, B.C. 

11. Oakridge Center, 41st & Cambie, Vancouver, B.C. 

12. O c c i d e n t a l & Yesler, Seattle, W A . 

13. Robson Square, Vancouver, B.C. 

14. Sun W a h Market, Keefer & Main, Vancouver, B.C. 

127 



15. Surface lot between Keefer & Union o n G o r e , Vancouver, B.C. 

16. U.S. Bank, 1st Ave. & Cherry, Seattle, W A . 

17. Washington State C o n v e n t i o n & Trade Center, 8th Ave. & Pike, Seattle, W A . 

128