RCA 12 PARKING GARAGE -2009

To match a six-story parking garage to an adjacent three-story office building in the PGA development off I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., the design and construction team started by replicating the office’s covered walkways with arched openings on the garage’s Tilt-Up panels with banding and keystones.

The garage further blends in with its surroundings thanks to a mansard roof accented with red tile. Large panel openings, designed to provide ventilation for the garage, are disguised with an aluminum window frame that creates the illusion of large storefront glass. While most of the structure was built with load bearing six-story panels, to accommodate the 34-foot opening necessary for the main entrance to the garage, the 66-foot-tall panel there was broken up into three sections, with the upper portion cast an extra 12 inches thick to add an architectural relief element at the entrance.

An expansion joint isolates the office building from the garage to minimize sound, but thanks to careful attention to detail, the two structures are connected aesthetically.