SANTA MONICA CIVIC CENTER PARKING STRUCTURE by Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners in Santa Monica, California.

The design team was challenged to create a building that exemplified the city's commitment to sustainable design while strengthening the urban fabric and providing public facilities. Intended as an integral part that completes a quadrant of civic buildings, the new structure will provide 900 parking spaces on six levels above grade and two below grade while visually uniting the tableau of diverse buildings.

One of the challenges for this project is to create architecture out of a common building type--one that is not generally associated with high design standards. The design addresses this standard service amenity by viewing it from a fresh perspective and taking it to a higher level where it can have a positive influence on its surroundings. Primarily, the building provides 900 parking spaces. In addition, the structure offers a visually memorable arrival point and gateway to the new Civic Center, street-level retail and café amenities, spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and the city, a garden, and a sense of personal safety.

The building works efficiently at four different levels:

An Urban Solution

The varied amenities incorporated into the Parking Structure allow the designed mass to function beyond its service capacity. The four sides of the building acknowledge the individual urban contexts, thus serving as a complete designed urban presence.

Small retail spaces at the pedestrian level expand the building's civic edge, creating a destination as well as a gateway. A lively café on the main plaza terrace animates the pedestrian flow into and out of the heart of the Civic Center.

The Zen garden and a commissioned work of art highlight both the inside and the outside of the building, making it more hospitable to the community than an ordinary parking structure.

A Sustainable Structure

The building functions as an efficient sustainable designed structure. Photovoltaic panels on the roof and laminated to three façades of the built mass provide much of the building's energy needs. The array of angled photovoltaic cells serves to accentuate the skyline and provides a memorable symbol for the Civic Center.

All façades allow natural ventilation and illumination to enter all parking floors. The ceilings are painted white to maximize the quality of light and airiness. Multicolored glass panels welcome day-lighting into the Parking Structure, decreasing the amount of artificial light that is generally needed for this type of building while adding a glowing beauty to the interior by day and a luminous exterior by night. The structure becomes a sensor and vessel of light, colors, and patterns, ranging from transparent to translucent.

Increased Safety

The parking is organized on eight floors, accessed via a centralized circulation spine. The elevator core and stairs are positioned with respect to the two major pedestrian paths in the Civic Center campus.

The reflective surface of the façade can be illuminated after sunset to glow as a shimmering curtain, providing defensible space through a pleasing ambient light.

A Unique Presence: Material Palette

The design does not disguise the utilitarian nature of the building, but instead seeks to celebrate this aspect as part of the design aesthetic. Automobiles, from their colors, types, and movement, are integrated as elements in the overall design strategy. The design solution uses colored laminated glass channels, photovoltaic panels, ribbed pre-cast concrete panels, and steel mesh to render a unique civic presence. The dynamic integration of these materials makes the structure function as an urban curtain in its vibrant context.

Client: City of Santa Monica

Design Architect: Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners
Principal-in-Charge: James Mary O'Connor, AIA
Partners: John Ruble, FAIA ,Buzz Yudell, FAIA
Job Captain: Halil Dolan Associate
Color/Materials: Kaoru Orime Associate

Project Team: Pooja Bhagat, Tim Feigenbutz, Simone Barth, Nozomu Sugawara, Tony Tran, AIA, Christopher Jonick
Models: Mark Grand, Halil Dolan, Gerardo Rivero, Jed Bunkowski
Digital Imaging: Halil Dolan, Haruyuki Yokoyama

Executive Architect: International Parking Design (Don Marks, AIA,
Dirmali Botejue)
General Contractor: ARB, Inc.
Landscape Architect: Melendrez Design Partners
Lighting Consultant: Francis Krahe & Associates
Artist: Mark Lere
Pre-cast Contractor: Willis Construction Co. Inc.
Structural Consultant: Frame Design Group
Curtain Wall Installer: Woodbridge Glass Inc.
Curtain Wall Engineer: Werner Systems
U-Glass Panels Manufacturer: Bendheim
U-Glass Panels Distributor: Specialty Glazing Systems
Colors on Glass Panels: Grosvenor Solutions in Glass
Photovoltaic Panels: RWE Schott Solar Inc.
Photographer: John Edward Linden

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