Can Parking Garages Be Beautiful?

Parking garages are rarely compared to works of art. Consumers are more likely to think of them as unsightly yet convenient, clunky but inevitable. However a new exhibit at the National Building Museum may flip that thinking, in part, because it showcases the work of architect Harry Wolf  ’60.

House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage, on display through July 11, 2010, features the Walt Disney Arrival Building and Parking Structure in Anaheim, CA (Mickey & Friends Parking Structure). The garage, which holds 10,500 cars, was the world’s largest parking structure when it was constructed in 1998...and may still be.

Wolf’s unusual design for the University of California, San Diego Revelle Parking Structure is an enormous urn, 316 feet in diameter. The circular building, which seems to recede from the viewer, reduces the sense of mass and suggests motion. The green project is naturally ventilated with courts bringing sunlight even to the lowest levels.

Hmmmm…the parking garage as beautiful and green.