Parking Lots: The Latest Architecture and News

The United Center arena in Chicago, designed by HOK Sport (now Populous), Marmon Mok, and W.E. Simpson Company, was built between 1992 and 1994. With a capacity of over 20,000 seats for sports and general events, it includes more than 6,000 parking spaces in lots surrounding the arena. These parking lots span approximately 55 acres (over 22 hectares) in Chicago's West Side (1901 W. Madison Street). A new master plan, named the 1901 Project, aims to transform this space into a mixed-use neighborhood. Led by design collective RIOS, with contributions from landscape architecture studio Field Operations, this long-term, multi-phase project aims to connect neighborhoods by creating new public spaces and infrastructure on a metropolitan scale. The proposal recently received approval from the Chicago Plan Commission.

+ 8

Cities face much criticism with how they handle their car population, but have you ever thought about how much land use is dedicated to surface parking lots? In fact, it may be one of the most prominent features of the postwar city in the United States. Housing, community facilities, highway infrastructure, often garner much attention, but the amount of land dedicated just to park cars is astounding.

Designer and art director Serena Confalonieri, along with a team of students and volunteers have created “Quadra”, a graphic installation that is part of the initiative “Piazze Aperte” promoted by the Municipality of Milan. The urban intervention is a graphic art project in a former parking lot in the Quarto Oggiaro district that aims to enhance and characterize tactical urban interventions in all cities.

Are you in the market for a new home? If so, you may want to consider looking at a former parking garage, because they just might be the next place where developers are looking to build. In the United States alone, there are more than 500 million parking spots for 326 million citizens, covering approximately 2,500 square miles of land. Despite the push for a "car-free" future, more of these structures keep springing up across the country. If cities are building parking garages to support the need for the cars of today, how might we rethink their design so they can outfit the autonomous vehicle ambitions of tomorrow?