posted: 2/5/2006
Project: Downtown Parking Garage - Tacoma

Background:
For the better part of the 20th Century, if one wanted to find the pulse of the city, Pacific Avenue was where it was taken. However, by the 1960's, the pulse was barely detectable: Blight had set in and many buildings were condemned after years of neglect. From these ashes rose two monolithic concrete parking garages representing some of the best the Cold War-era architects could muster.

Flash forward to 2004: Tacoma, as well as other cities, are placing a renewed sense of urgency to fix their broken downtown's. For uncertain reasons, the city has decided against selling off the garages for redevelopment and instead is trying to figure out how to make something inherently ugly not so. A huge stumbling block though is a massive city budget shortfall.

A Little Bit of Italy:
The inspiration for a new facade for the parking garages was taken from the famed porticos (covered sidewalks) of Italy. There is a fundamental change to the garage though in that portions of the garage at the street level of Pacific Avenue are converted into small retail shops. This change helps bridge the retail hole created by the parking garages at the street level and provides more retail opportunities for the small business which has been lost not only to the parking garages but also the large financial institutions that have replaced much of the smaller structures formerly found downtown.

Current photo of Park Plaza North garage:

As is apparent in the above photograph, even on a sunny summer day, the garage is cold, dark and foreboding.
There is nothing inviting about it. It is strictly about the car, not the person. There is minimal retail and is entirely above ground.

The inspiration:

With its earth-toned archways and brick pillars, these sidewalks not only contribute a sense of place,
which is important for pedestrians, but also are visually pleasing to the person walking, or driving by.

Overlay of Park Plaza North garage with portico:

Click here to see a short movie of the above image.