Hines Parking Structure

The façade of the new garage is detailed with vertical precast concrete panels to harmonize with the vertically oriented granite office tower.

This parking structure is built on a prominent downtown Detroit site, the final phase of the build-out of an urban block that currently contains a 45-story office building and a 2,500 car parking structure.  The gray granite office tower contrasts with the buff color of the garage, creating two distinctly colored masses. By utilizing a precast concrete on the new garage that matches the gray granite of the office tower, the three-part mass of buildings on the site is re-balanced.  Stair and elevator cores are clad in a buff-colored precast to integrate the design of the old and new garages.  Curving precast planters at the four corners of the garage emulate the curving corners of the office towers.  The vertical circulation is expressed in glass-backed elevators to add a degree of pedestrian safety as well as animating the exterior façade.  A covered walkway between the two garages provides a link for pedestrians and marks the entrance to the elevators.