Circular Economy - Redensification through Car Parks
Vom Parkhaus zum Hauspark
Master Thesis by Ina Weiler
They are an integral part of the urban fabric and yet they are rarely discussed and often avoided: parking garages - witnesses of an urban planning dedicated to the automobile. However, as mono-functional functional buildings, the large number of multi-storey car parks in central inner-city locations, especially in the post-war period, can hardly withstand the change of time. The problem for them is not so much the mobility shift, but rather their central location. Due to the currently rapidly increasing demand for living space in large German cities, multi-storey car parks are often replaced by new residential buildings, but also by office buildings and commercial buildings - the "blind spots" in the urban fabric are making way for modern new buildings with underground car parks.
A development that seems understandable, but which is not justifiable from a Circular Economy point of view: functional buildings are removed only because of their use. It is therefore rewarding to consciously turn to a "stepchild of architecture" and to search for its potentials for preservation through conversion.
Parallel to a theoretical examination of the difficulties and potentials of such conversion projects, the practical implementation was also examined using the example of the Rödingsmarkt multi-storey car park in Hamburg city centre.