Santa Monica California US
Moore Ruble Yudell Architects and Planners

In order to establish a strong presence within the city’s group of civic buildings, this facility was conceived as much more than a traditional car park, rather as a functionally dynamic celebration of civic life. The 300,000 m² facility provides not only 882 parking spaces (distributed over six raised and two lower levels), but also a wide range of community services. Serving as an easily identifiable marker for the entire civic centre, the building enjoys spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and the city from the upper levels, while a café on the terrace of the main plaza enlivens the flow of pedestrian traffic.

Many factors make the building one of the first LEED™-certified parking structures in the United States. Photovoltaic panels on the roof provide shade and a significant portion of the total energy needs. High recycled content materials were used, including fly ash instead of concrete, reinforcing steel and recycled content framing.

The parking structure has a unique presence in the Civic Centre. Rhythmically arranged ribbed concrete panels on the façades create a play of shadows and protect the parked cars. A series of coloured glass bays creates a lively and changing quality during the day. The character of the structure changes again in the evening, when the glass is illuminated and becomes a dancing curtain of colour and light.

Client: City of Santa Monica
Architects: James Mary O’Connor, FAIA
Partners: John Ruble, FAIA
Architectural Team: Halil Dolan, Kaoru Orime, Nozomu Sugawara, Tony Tran
Executive Architect: International Parking Design
Lighting Design: Francis Krahe & Associates
Landscape Architects: Melendrez Design Partners
General Contractor: ARB Inc.
Area:  27,800 m²
Year:  2007
Photographers: John Edward Linden

The project is presented in the exhibition ARCHIcommunity: Architecture for the Community 2023 Venice, Italy (link to the catalogue)