East end of the new parking structure at Long Beach Airport. File photo.
UPDATE 5:50pm |
Since posting this commentary Long Beach Airport staff has reached out to share they are planning improvements for the car rental lot currently separating the new Central Parking Garage from the Airport Terminal.
Their intention is to develop a transportation center that will house ground transportation, car rental, valet, bicycle and upgraded pedestrian facilities with the goal of further enhancing the look and feel of LGB. We will update readers what the future will have in store.
9:46am | Tagging along with my wife and friends on their various business trips across the country (and globe) often takes me through the Long Beach Airport (LGB). So I was surprised to see that between these various departures and arrivals, a giant parking structure has arisen where Parking Lot B was once located. The entire experience of entering the airport complex has now changed, as this new five-story concrete building now shields it from Lakewood Boulevard; the parking structure has been designed to step back from East Douglas Park Drive, revealing the historic terminal building as one approaches it.
Modernization of the Long Beach Airport took a step forward with the opening of new central parking garage. The massive 2,000-stall structure, just a block from the airport terminal, replaces the expansive satellite parking lot the city had been leasing just north of the Skylinks Golf Course, a half mile away. The new structure is expected to fulfill parking needs even after the upcoming modernization of the airport is complete, eliminating the need for a satellite lot served by shuttle buses.
During the design phase, great attention was placed on the scale of the parking garage relative to the historic terminal. For instance, the Planning Commission recommended a more sensitive sculpting of the building so that it pulls away from Douglas Park Drive and allowed those arriving to retain a vista of the terminal. While not the most economical way to design a parking garage, this was necessary to respect a city landmark, one of the most significant cultural resources of Long Beach’s aerospace history. Unfortunately, however, there is a limit to what can be done to reduce the visual impact of a 2,000-car parking garage.
Rounded corners (idealistically termed “Art Deco”) and architectural attachments of glass and steel do little to mask the 600-foot long, 60-foot tall, repetitive, concrete form. The design of the tower housing stairs and elevators was a lost opportunity, as the same architecture is repeated despite the fact that the tower is physically detached from the rest of the parking structure, and has far different structural and programmatic requirements. Perhaps the existing parking lots located to the south and east of the new parking garage could be redeveloped with the new airport-related uses, so as to mask portions of their otherwise blank facades.
While the aesthetic design of the new central parking garage leaves a lot to be desired, there remain opportunities for the structure to improve the travel experience, given the overall airport campus plan. In addition to helpfully consolidating parking to within walking distance of the airport, the new garage can potentially have a strong relationship with the historic terminal building. For instance, upon exiting the lobby of the new parking garage, it is apparent that its elevator tower is aligned with the historic terminal building. Unfortunately, this strong visual connection does not manifest physically, since the rental car parking lot and a cluster of temporary structures lie in between the parking structure and the airport terminal. Thus, even though we can be excited about the brand-new central parking garage and the upcoming modernization of the airport terminal, what is missing is a linkage between them.
As I have discussed elsewhere, the goal of protecting the historic terminal building has resulted in an airport expansion plan that celebrates the Southern California climate, with lushly landscaped outdoor spaces, lots of glass, and the ability to board airplanes outdoors, without use of jet bridges. Instead of the hermetically sealed transition from parked car to airplane passengers experience in most airports, at the Long Beach Airport beautiful blue skies and bright sun are interspersed throughout the experience. Regrettably, the pedestrian experience between the new central parking structure and the airport terminal is hampered by a lack of appropriate walkways connecting the two. Pedestrians are confined to a narrow sidewalk that does not afford enough room for passengers to pass each other without stepping down into the adjacent driveway, which is particularly difficult when carrying or pulling luggage.
In addition to its various new and expanded buildings, the airport master plan will improve the movement of airplanes and automobiles. However, the master plan seems to lack attention to pedestrian circulation. This is not an inevitable state of affairs. Instead of being an obstacle, the car rental lot could be transformed into a grand pedestrian promenade that reinforces the visual axis linking the historic terminal building to the new parking structure’s elevator tower. Building a new elevator tower for the existing parking garage would further reinforce these connections. The pedestrian promenade would still leave ample area in what is now the car rental lot to develop a central plaza with eateries and retail kiosks. This would provide passengers and their waiting loved ones a more pleasant place to rest than the collection of benches and shade structures currently available outside the terminal.
It seems that large parking garages are a necessary evil of contemporary airports, and the new central parking garage serves this purpose in a fairly neutral fashion, doing little to contribute or take away from the surrounding context. However, while the focus has been on moving planes and cars, we need to think about how passengers move between them on foot. We can take advantage of the consolidation and expansion of the airport parking into a single location near the historic terminal; we can plan for using this new proximity to create a rich pedestrian experience. This could bolster the ability of the airport master plan to ensure a unique experience for travelers using the Long Beach Airport.