Parking Facility Design
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Parking design is a specialty field for several reasons. In that parking floors generally are neither level nor planar and the parking designer must have a special ability to visualize complex solutions in three dimensions. Parking design also requires the capability to perform technical analysis in terms of geometric relationships between space width, bay width and parking angle in order to maximize functional efficiency. Additionally, it necessitates knowledge of appropriate structural systems, expertise in their cost-effective layout, and an in-depth understanding of the behavior and vulnerability of this structure type due to exposure to changing weather conditions and seismic forces. |
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Parking design also deals with subjects with which designers not specifically trained in this specialty are not familiar, such as creating a clean-looking interior by carefully locating drains, pipes, lights and signs in realtion to each other, and to structural members. Other critical issues include knowledge of parking control systems, revenue control techniques, and traffic flow capacities of entry/exit regulated by different equipment types. Based on IPD’s experience designing thousands of parking structures, IPD developed the concept of parking standards for various types of users, such as shoppers or employees, in terms of “levels of convenience.” Each “level of convenience” is expressed as a set of curves relating various space widths and parking bay widths to parking angles. This methodology has been adopted into the zoning codes of the cities of Los Angeles; Burbank; Culver City; Coronado; Dallas, TX and others.
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All IPD personnel are involved in an ongoing training program to keep current with the latest in design and construction techniques and parking equipment technology. Headquartered in Los Angeles, International Parking Design also maintains offices in Oakland and Irvine, CA. IPD’s affiliate in Las Vegas is InterPark Design, Inc. established to serve the needs of our expanding client base in Nevada. Text and Images from International Parking Design Inc. |