We came upon this project in the latest Design Institute of Australia Newsletter. It’s an interesting case study because it raises the question as to why carparks have to be cold, sombre grey boxes? So many parking facilities feel unsafe and very clinical or grimy. Why don’t we treat these spaces as warranting aesthetic design consideration?

There seem to be some safety issues with the visibility of the columns in the showcased project and it is likely to be harder to maintain the painted surfaces, but that is not to say that there can’t be some middle ground between creativity on the scale illustrated here, and the complete absence of humanising features in current car park design. Aside from factors such as access, traffic flow and regulatory compliance, surely appearance rates some mention where there is so much room for improvement? Surely colour, pattern and aesthetic design could be intelligently applied both to enhance safety, visibility and navigation, and to enhance the user experience of parking environments?

This is certainly food for thought.

http://www.design.org.au/index.cfm?id=101&news=1622