See more objects with the tag mobility, urban planning, system.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2016

  • Work on this object began.

2018

2025

  • You found it!

MOD, Adaptive Parking Garage

This is a MOD, Adaptive Parking Garage. It was designed by Joel Spearman, Jordan Kessler, Gensler, Emily Columbus, Benjamin Garcia, Molli Worb, Jaechang Ko and Eva Xu. It is dated 2016. It is a part of the department.

In the U.S., cars sit idle and parked 95% of the time. Circulating fleets of autonomous vehicles (AVs) will make parking garages obsolete. Gensler’s concept repurposes a parking garage as a community space by incorporating a mix of pre-fabricated modules
for private and public uses. The concept encourages building current parking structures with flat floors and higher floor-to-floor heights, which will allow for future adaptation.

Model
2018
Acrylic, foam, 3D-printed plastic, wood

BEFORE section of the model displays a traditional parking structure with staggered flat floor plates. AFTER model section demonstrates how the parking structure could be redeveloped for workspace, retail, and permanent supportive housing using cost-effective, pre-fabricated modules.

Diagram
2016

Gensler considered which current parking structures were best for reuse and concluded that above ground, flat floor garages were optimal.

Renderings
2016

Street view (top), interior atrium (lower left),
roof (lower right)
Digital print

It is credited Courtesy of Gensler.

Our curators have highlighted 3 objects that are related to this one.

  • ESU 400 Storage Unit
  • moulded birch plywood, lacquered masonite and wood, zinc-plated steel,....
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
  • 2013-58-1-a/d
  • Solar Roadways Panels
  • glass, circuit boards, solar cells, cables.
  • Courtesy of Solar Roadways Dayton.
  • MOBILITY.013

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318795863/ |title=MOD, Adaptive Parking Garage |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>