Parking Garage Facade Ventilation Mesh System

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High Alma

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System: Parkade
Attachment Method: Talon
Metal Fabric Pattern: Braid

Project: High/Alma South Parking Structure
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Architect: Joseph Bellomo Architects-Palo Alto, CA
Facility Owner: City of Palo Alto
Facility End Use: Parking Garage
Renovation or New Construction: New Construction
Completion Date: September 2003

Project Details: The new 213-space High/Alma South Parking Structure in Palo Alto, CA, is a pillar of the community’s commitment to sustainability and the arts.

A Cambridge Architectural Parkade mesh system wraps a cylindrical staircase at one corner of the building, providing a safe, ventilated exterior with a fortified urban edge. The metal fabric also glows an iridescent aqua green at night.

Approximately 7,500 square feet of Cambridge’s Braid metal fabric with Talon tension attachment hardware creates the Parkade mesh system, which features 65% open area. The primary function of Parkade mesh systems is to provide aesthetically pleasing methods of protection for people and property such as fall protection, security, wind abatement and blast mitigation.

After almost 10 years of planning, the garage’s design was well thought out. The structure includes recharging stations for electric vehicles and bike lockers and racks for cyclists. Prior to the opening ceremonies for the garage, the Palo Alto Weekly, a local newspaper, sponsored a haiku contest to spice up the design of the structure. The winning entries are permanently displayed on a poetry wall on the High Street staircase.

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