Problem: Parking is Not Adequately Integrated With Buildings Total area of land disturbance per required facilities is inversely proportional to sustainability of development. For this reason it is desirable to integrate parking with buildings, most commonly by placing parking in the structure beneath some or all of the occupied area. This also carries the benefit of mitigating the heat island effect of exposed parking areas. In pursuing this strategy large existing on-grade parking areas can be seen as potential building sites for facilities that require a large footprint but do not impose unusually large live loads incompatible with long-span construction. Another common benefit to this approach is a reduction in site development costs. On other sites, such as hillsides, buildings can step down a slope above tiers of parking arranged along topographical contours, making double usage of sites which might have been judged to bring too small a return for their development costs.
Action Item D.4.2 – Adopt a policy of incorporating in every new building program an investigation of the feasibility of providing parking within the building footprint, regardless of whether or not the building generates an additional parking need. If such inclusion is possible and represents a surplus, eliminate existing on-grade spaces on a one-for-one basis.
Pattern Language: Integrated Parking (BGPL2) Problem: Negative Environmental Impact of Parking Most existing parking on the campus is designed to accommodate the largest number of autos at greatest efficiency and lowest cost. This may have the merit of limiting disturbed area, but it is often neither kind to the environment nor friendly to users. Modest increases in area that are devoted to breaking large expanses of paving, alternative handling of runoff, permeable paving, ground-plane lighting, mitigation of heat island effect and attention to pedestrian pathways are examples of design tools that should be considered in planning new parking areas. Many such tools are applicable to the improvement of existing parking. Two specific components of parking design have not been the subjects of sufficient attention on campus: stormwater management and lighting design. The former is of particular concern in parking lots because of their typically extensive paved area, but also extends to roads, sidewalks and other catchment areas, particularly where paved or otherwise impervious. Lighting issues are likewise not limited to parking areas, but are particularly evident there because of concentration. Fixtures used to light streets, building entrances, pedestrian walkways and landscapes should also be the subjects of attention in seeking compliance with dark skies guidelines.
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