In more urban areas, parking design has a substantial effect on people’s daily lives, whether they are commuting for work or visiting various locations for leisure. Though public transportation is always an option to lessen the need for parking, in many cities, cars remain the primary means by which people get around. Because of this, there is much room for improvement in how we approach parking. These are a few emerging trends in parking structure design to know.
Greener Thinking in Design
Just about every industry is affected in some way by the push toward more sustainable practices. Parking garage design is no different. There are several ways to go about making parking areas more eco-friendly. One change could be to upgrade lighting and HVAC systems in a parking area to improve energy efficiency, saving electricity and lowering maintenance costs. You might have systems that use sensors to automatically shut off when they are not needed, for example.
Using more sustainable materials in construction is an additional way to make a parking area greener. You could utilize materials that leave an overall smaller carbon footprint to produce or that are made from recycled substances.
Technology for Better Convenience
Another emerging trend in parking structure design is the incorporation of technology into parking in order to increase convenience. People in cities are no strangers to parking-related frustrations where spots are not available near their destination or where parking pricing is not what they expected. Mobile apps that inform the user about parking availability and prices while they are en route to destinations are thus on the rise, alleviating these kinds of scenarios. The systems that operate parking structure entry and exit gates are also becoming more automated, making the process of going into parking facilities and paying for them smoother.
Implementation of Car Lift Systems
With space becoming more and more limited, car lift systems present a solution for more effective space utilization. Rather than spread out horizontally as many parking areas in less dense locations do, adding parking space vertically can greatly increase an area’s capacity for vehicles without affecting neighboring buildings or blocks.
Car lift systems raise automobiles on platforms to store them in the space between the ceiling and floor of a single level in a parking garage. They also work in parking lots. By making use of space that is normally completely ignored, car park lift systems allow for unprecedented capacity improvements to parking areas without actually necessitating size expansion. Contact Harding Steel to find out more about car parking steel structure design.