5 answers to commonly asked questions
As an architect or building designer, when you’re incorporating an auto system into your project, you’ll find there are a few key issues to address.
In this news post, we help you find the answers to some commonly asked questions aboutdesigning around an automatic parking system.
1) What floor to ceiling heights are needed?
One of the most fundamental dimensions of your design is the floor to ceiling heights needed for each parking level.
While this will naturally depend on the type of vehicles that need to be accommodated, there are a few rules of thumb to bear in mind:
LevantaPark recommends a 200 mm floor slab, and an additional 250mm to vehicle height for mechanical equipment requirements to calculate floor to ceiling measurements.
As we’ve talked about before, one of the major advantages of choosing an auto system is that it means there’s generally less excavation required to create enough parking space. And that means greatly reducing your earthmoving costs.
A major benefit of choosing an automatic parking system is their excellent space utilisation. The system will automatically allocate different sized vehicles to their appropriate level – making the most of your available space.
In fact, thanks to the dramatic reduction of space requirements from an auto system, you may not have to excavate at all – instead accommodating all vehicles in the building’s above ground levels.
Incorporating blade walls (or other structural supports) into your building design will mean lower overall building costs. And ideally, you need flexibility with their placement in your design.
The good news? An automatic parking system can be designed with the building’s structural elements in mind, and configured to allow for structural blade walls within its components.
It means that if you choose to use an auto parking system, you can reduce or eliminate the need for expensive, space-consuming structural transfer slabs.
You can appreciate why involving a parking system technical consultant early in the design phase is critical.
Of course, a crucial KPI for your building design will be the number of vehicle movements you can consistently achieve.
A modern auto parking system can save time compared to a traditional car park, as well as providing a better user experience.
Even the location of the entry/exit hall can make a profound difference to the number of vehicle movements that are achievable.
Having traffic queuing outside your building can be frowned upon by council if you’re developing around a main thoroughfare or busy road. Yet it’s also true that including a queuing aisle inside the building costs you valuable space.
A well-designed auto system will minimise the need for queuing aisles. Make sure your auto parking system design team can work with your Traffic Engineer’s report to minimise queueing requirements for your building.
If you’d like to speak to a design consultant about how auto parking systems could work with your building design, get in touch with LevantaPark on 1300 993 548 or fill out the contact form here.