Benjamin Forgey, former architecture critic for The Washington Post, offers his thoughts on parking structure design in the Washington DC area. He shared his insights in his regular column "Perspectives" for the February 19 issue of OnSite Magazine, published by the Washington Business Journal.

"At their best, parking garages can embody the civic spirit and can be innovative public buildings," says Forgey in his column.

Howard Shockey is pleased that its 530-space George Washington Autopark (in Winchester, Virginia) received mention as a "praiseworthy attempt to fit a new garage into historic context."

The garage's exterior appearance echoes the architectural aesthetic of Winchester's historic district. Here is what the project team had to say about the design of the Winchester parking garage:

"Preserving and extending the integrity of the historic downtown district had been a goal since day one," says Jeff Boehm, Vice President of Howard Shockey & Sons.

"Winchester's new garage does something significant, states structural engineer Ned Cleland. "It doesn't look like a conventional parking structure filled with horizontal beams and vertical columns. Instead, this parking deck was designed to look like an old industrial building, with walls and punched openings for windows."

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