Adaptive Reuse and the Parking Garages of Tomorrow

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Much of the concept of a mobility revolution is centered around the idea that new technologies and innovation will reduce the number of personal vehicles on the road as ride-hailing services and micromobility options develop to be considered better alternatives. Though a future with less cars continues to rise as a popular narrative, much of the land within the United States is devoted to parking. Large cities such as Los Angeles even allocate upwards of 13 percent of its land for this purpose. If car ownership does see a drastic decline, how can cities reallocate parking space for other uses?

Large parking lots can be easily built upon when their original use has dwindled, but parking structures are more expensive to demolish and rebuild into new buildings from scratch. Instead, there is a growing movement for these structures to be built with adaptive reuse in mind, allowing large garages to be converted into retail, office space, or housing once parking is a less profitable option. While some currently existing parking garages aren’t structurally sound for reuse, architects and developers can consider “future-proofing” new garages to allow for any changes over time. Thomas Fisher, a professor and the director of the Minnesota Design Center at the University of Minnesota, outlined three key elements in designing parking garages to allow them to undergo adaptive reuse in the future:
  1. Flat floors - Fisher believes that newer digital technologies and car elevators can reduce the need to make garages with sloped floors. When the floors are flat already, they can be more easily converted to commercial or residential space. 
  2. Comfortable floor-to-ceiling heights - Adequate heights between floors is required so that people can feel more comfortable occupying the space. 
  3. Enough loading capacity (i.e. strength) to support another structural use - Some parking garages currently do not meet the same seismic standards as office and apartment buildings.
Underground parking garages have their own unique problems as they do not have windows, but there is also potential to be used for urban agriculture, storage, or data centers.

Several different architectural firms are already leading the way to drumming up interest in rethinking the way that parking garages are designed. Andy Cohen, the co-CEO of Gensler, and Megan Ridgeway, principal at Arcturis, have both voiced their support and have noted that the concept is also beginning to appeal to several developers. Still, there is only so much that architects and developers can do. Cities must engage in creating the policies that support adaptive reuse such as “[taking] the lead by rewriting zoning and building codes to require garage developers to meet the minimal adaptability requirements”. By taking a stance in directing the way that parking is designed in the present, cities make an investment in the commercial and residential spaces of the future.

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