Small is Beautiful, Part II
This is a parking garage door that doesn’t wreck the streetscape:
And this,* below, is a parking garage door that leaves an unpleasant gaping hole in the streetscape:
But hey, cars are only about six or seven feet wide, so why are these 20-foot wide caverns the norm? In short, it’s building code for dumb people. It is assumed that people are too dumb to drive in and out of a garage using one-lane. It’s design for the lowest common denominator, and the public realm loses.
OK, so I’m geeking out on this relatively subtle issue. But if enough of these seemingly minor streetscape design flaws pile up, you end up with an urban environment in which nobody wants to walk.
*Good Lord, is that actually the real Onyx Conominium home page and not some parody of the cheesiest condo marketing imaginable? Sadly, yes.