Western Michigan University East and West Parking Structures

Western Michigan University expanded its College of Engineering and Applied Sciences with the creation of an entirely new college campus developed on the site of the former Lee Baker Farm in Kalamazoo. The project included the construction of two separate precast concrete parking structures of two levels each. Because of its natural setting and local community concerns over the environmental impact of new development, the design of structured parking had to be mindful of the rural character of the site. The design team put great effort into developing site configurations and layouts that would be of minimal height and unobtrusive to the campus.

Project Highlights:

• Lower levels were designed to be six feet below grade with earthen berms around the perimeters to hide the lower parking levels and maintain natural light and ventilation
• Supported parking levels are precast concrete and each parking level operates independently of one another, with no internal ramping or access control equipment