The Most Creative Parking Garages in the World
The idea of an exciting parking garage seems weird at first, but there are amazing parking garages throughout the world. From Chicago to Germany, creative and innovative parking solutions have become a reality. Check out some of the most creative parking garages in the world.
Marina City — Chicago, IL
Sometimes referred to as “Chicago’s corn cobs,” the Marina Towers have become iconic in Chicago. However, aside from the tower’s unique design, the fact that the parking is within the spiraled buildings as well has made Marina City that much more fascinating. Many people remember the Marina Towers from the famous scene in The Hunter where Steve McQueen plunges his car into the Chicago River.
Parc des Celestins — Lyon, France
Have you ever parked underground? People in France certainly have, and the Parc des Celestins is one of the coolest underground parking garages. The large mirror in the middle of the design solved the architect’s problem of providing enough light in the garage. What the designers didn’t know, however, was that their lighting solution made their garage one of the most beautiful garages in the world.
Volkswagen Autostadt — Wolfsburg, Germany
Germany is ahead of everyone when it comes to amazing parking solutions. The famous Volkswagen Autostadt museum has brightly lit silos where museum visitors can park their cars. What makes the silos even more fascinating is that the majority of silo’s exterior is glass, allowing you to watch the robots lift and receive your vehicle. Yep, we said robots.
Burda Car Park — Düsseldorf, Germany
Like we said, Germany is further along in these creative parking garages, so it’s only right to have Germany on the list twice. The Burda Car Park is one of the simplest designs, yet it’s so beautiful—actually, the design looks a lot like the new Apple Park building in Cupertino, CA. The circular design doesn’t look like much, but the garage can hold almost 500 cars!
Kansas City Public Library —Kansas City, MO
It’s not every day you get to say you parked inside a giant bookshelf, but Kansas City bookworms can say they’re parking inside a book. One of the most fascinating designs for a parking garage is the giant books for the Kansas City Public Library. No, seriously; the exterior of the parking garage looks like giant book spines, including such titles as The Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catch-22.
Muse Residences — Sunny Isles, FL
Naturally, most of these fascinating parking garages are a part of or near luxury condos; the Muse Residences prove just that. However, perhaps the most captivating part of living in these condos is the parking garage. PARKPLUS was responsible for building the parking garage and used their rack and rail automated parking system. In other words, more robots parking and retrieving your car.
As you can see, there are several amazing parking garages throughout the world. However, we only scratched the surface, since these creative parking garages are popping up throughout the world. For instance, there are more garages you should check out in Tokyo, Australia, Detroit, and California. So, keep your eye out for the next amazing creation, and we will too.