Designing for parking to
keep up with growth
| In growing cities the need for sufficient parking hardly gets enough
attention. We would have to adopt different norms when designing parking
lots for residences, small or large apartment complexes, offices, commercial
establishments, shopping complexes, a combination of shops and residences,
hospitality sector, public spaces such as airports, stations and recreation
zones, campuses and so on. |
PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR
VALUABLE SPACE: Much care must be taken while designing a parking space.
Whether it be an individual house, a small or large apartment
complex, a corporate business house, a multi-building campus or public
facilities such as airports or stations, a lot of thought needs to go into the
design of parking facilities.
Kerb side parking is also very important and an essential
part of urban design. But in cities that grow and develop in gay abandon, the
need for ensuring sufficient parking is the least of considerations.
The message going out is not to ignore parking facilities.
Agreed that every square foot counts in terms of money and the demand for built
up space is high but as any architect will tell you, lack of adequate parking
space and turning radius is an ideal recipe for bad planning.
Parking lots whether in houses or office complexes have to be
designed not just for the present but with an eye on the future. Parking can be
variously categorised depending on the nature of activity of the premises. We
would have to adopt different norms when designing parking lots for residences,
small or large apartment complexes, offices, commercial establishments, shopping
complexes, a combination of shops and residences, hospitality sector, public
spaces such as airports, stations and recreation zones, campuses and so on.
Parking
designs
We will begin by considering parking designs for residences
and apartments. International norms for parking suggest that small and medium
cars require about 200 sq ft, SUVs about 350 sq ft and heavy vehicles about 1000
sq ft.
The turning radius for various categories of vehicles is also
stipulated ranging from about 30 ft to less than 500 ft for large trailer
trucks. These figures may not make much sense to the common man whose primary
need is to comfortably drive his vehicle in and out of a parking lot whether it
be in his home, office or public spaces.
When looking at parking for residences or apartments, the one
norm to be strictly followed is that the gate must never open onto the road.
When vehicles are jammed into small parking lots the gate
will have to be opened outward to allow entry and exit and this is a major
inconvenience.
Another point to note is that one must provide parking space
for owned vehicles inside one's compound and not drive cars onto side walks or
in front of your neighbour's house.
When designing the gate it is necessary to keep it to the
normal size of about 8 ft. If the size of the gate cannot be widened to help
easy turning it may be good idea to go in for a bell mouth at the entrance where
a slightly inset gate will provide a wider entry point of about 11 ft to 13 ft.
We will first look at parking designs for medium and larger
apartments and then move on to sample individual residences. Parking for
apartments is either provided alongside the building and is uncovered, or takes
the form of covered parking at basement or the ground floor levels. When looking
at the parking lot of any apartment, the first thing one has to note is the
approach from the road. It must neither be a steep climb or a sharp descent. If
the parking is below or above road level it is safe to have a gradual slope
approach.
If parking slots are between stilts one must make sure that
the distance between the pillars is adequate to park and reverse a car without
having to turn very sharply. When parking lots are provided alongside buildings,
what owners' should insist upon is that there must be enough space for free
movement of another vehicle along side a parked one. In other words there should
be a minimum 10 ft wide space between the parking slot and the building to allow
vehicles to move around. And the one rule that residents and associations must
never compromise on is for more than one vehicle to be squeezed into a single
parking slot even if it were just for the night.
R. RAGHURAMAN
The author is a Chennai-based Landscape Architect and
Environmental Planner.
Courtesy: Property Plus, The Hindu
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Driving away Kochi’s
parking woes
| Given the nature of Kochi’s parking woes, the building industry has
become acutely aware of the need to give due importance to creating
parking facilities, reports K. A. Martin. |
– Photo: Mahesh Harilal
Space problem: Vehicle parking is becoming an expensive and
difficult proposition.
Taking a walk from the south end of M.G. Road to its north
end in Kochi on a typical business day tells you that there are as many vehicles
parked on the western and eastern flanks of the road as are crawling on the
traffic lanes.
So one may conclude that most of the private vehicles idle in parking spaces
— public or private – longer than they are on the roads.
It is a big headache to the owner of a luxury car who is inching from south
to north looking for a space that will accommodate his car. And a bigger one to
the city planners who always think in short-term strategies about a problem that
has long-term consequences and the capability to bring the entire economic train
to a standstill.
While the economy is on the double and land prices going through, the roof
parking problems have not eased.
The all-around prosperity has led to more and more people buying personal
vehicles, just as good road-building, parking planning or parking management
appear nowhere on the horizon of the general economic agenda.
Unwelcome sign
The downside of course is that it will gradually come to hit the economic
growth as experts on parking management see in availability of sufficient
parking space a sign of welcome to a town or a city. They point out that parking
space makes one of the first impressions about a city or a town.
Like the city planners, the building industry has been set thinking about
meeting the new challenges. Buyers of flats or living apartments now demand full
parking space. Availability of 100 per cent parking space makes one of the first
impressions about a project, perhaps along with the location.
The builders have realised it too. It is no longer possible to sell an
apartment or a flat without sufficient parking space. Though the building
industry in Kerala did not pay much attention to parking facilities in the early
stages of the new residential culture in the 90s, there is now a definite push
towards providing full parking space.
If lack of parking space pushed down prices of flats in the past, no builder
now thinks of a project without parking space.
Naturally, the price of parking space is realised from the buyers of flats or
residential apartments as prices spiral.
There is no doubt among the builders that providing sufficient parking space
makes a project saleable.
A tough nut
However, parking has not proved too tough a nut to crack for the organised
sector, says George E. George, Chairman of Kerala Builders’ Forum,
representing the building industry in Kerala.
The organised sector has taken care of the parking problems and has made sure
that their customers are provided with the space required for parking. The cost,
of course, varies.
Just as parking space is one of the first experiences in an urban centre, a
buyer of living apartment would look to park his vehicle easily and comfortably.
Most people who can afford to buy a flat or an apartment own a car and demand
parking space, says Mr. George.
Cost factor
He said that the cost of parking space vary from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.2.5 lakh
depending on the location.
The prices have been going up steadily with the land prices. A square foot of
land now can cost up to Rs.1,100 in some locations while in some it costs up to
Rs.750. Definitely the price is reflected in the cost of parking space.
While some builders are able to find sufficient parking space over-ground,
some have resorted to underground or multi-level parking facilities.
Basement parking practices have given way to multi-level parking. Vertical
expansion of parking space helps to a great extent in solving the space
constraint.
The psychological resistance to multi-level parking is gradually giving way
to the realization of space constraints. And the customers are able to
understand the situation and they have little or no difficulty in accepting and
using multi-level parking facilities.
Mr. George said the in one of the projects in Kakkanad, the builder had taken
to multi-level parking facility to meet the requirement for space.
While the organised sector appears to have overcome the problem, parking
continues to be a big problem in some areas where dwelling units come up on
smaller spaces. Often parking spills on to the roads.
While the builders try to find parking space they also face the reduction in
Floor Area Ratio making every inch of land count in the economics of the
industry.
FAR factor
The building industry has been calling for a revision in FAR considering the
new trends in planning elsewhere in the country.
The FAR constraints and spiralling land price tend to squeeze the buyers as
the price of a living apartment goes up in proportion to these factors.
Mr. George said that sufficient parking space makes a project easily
saleable. This is applicable to the overall scene in the city where parking
continues to be unplanned and disorganised totally.
The Builders’ Forum Chairman said that the builders would only be keen to
take up a project to make parking more scientific in the city. He recalled that
a project was mooted to use the outer rings of the Maharaja’s Grounds to park
vehicles.
Using space
The outer rings can accommodate around 1,500 cars and the parking problem on
M.G. Road between South and Shenoy’s could easily be solved by using the
space.
He pointed to the easing of the roads of parked vehicles when the Durbar Hall
grounds were opened for parking vehicles.
Using the outer rings of the Maharaja’s Grounds will in no way affect the
ground being used for sports and games, he said.
Another large open space available for parking in the city is the stadium
near KSRTC bus depot. The stadium can be used for parking when no programmes are
being held there or even during daytime as most programmes are organised in the
evenings.
With companies that can manage the parking problems in a city, it would be
easy for the City administration to engage a company to find a solution on a
permanent and scientific basis.
The need of the hour is scientific planning, optimum use of the space
available and introduction of new methods of multi-level parking so that the
problem can be overcome.
Mr. George also pointed out that although parking space is limited in the
city, there is no method of fully utilizing the space available. There is no
segregation of motor bikes and car parking spaces.
Optimum use, scientific planning and finding more space are needed
immediately as the city and the building industry in the State gear up to face a
new era of rapid economic growth.
Courtesy:
Property Plus, The Hindu
