Park & Ride Parking facility Nantes
Winner of a public tender process, the project is located in a low-density residential environment, in the town of Bouguenais, southeast of Nantes. The proposal is part of the desire of Nantes Metropole to improve the city's public transport network.
The complex is made up of a surface level dissuasive car park and an intermodal bus and tram station, all connected by a continuous canopy-covered passage.
The car park consists of 3 covered floors plus a fourth uncovered level, with a capacity for 782 cars, 20 motorcycles and 50 bicycles. In addition to the premises for management of the facility, the building includes offices for bus drivers, using the intermodal station.
Given the characteristics of the environment in which it is located, the proposed solution places great importance on its urban and landscape insertion. That is why the aim of all design decisions is to guarantee both the optimal operation of the transport center and the attenuation of its impact and volume.
In order to assist the integration of the building, various strategies have been established. In the first place, landscaped patios have been introduced into the façade, coinciding with the vertical communication cores; a strategy which divides the volume of the building, while at the same time improving the experience and natural orientation of the users.
The courtyards of the building increase in dimension as they go up the different levels of the car park, favoring the entry of light and the appearance of terraces where the planted trees can grow. On the other hand, volumetrically, the main building softens at its corners, integrating curved shapes and a perforated sheet metal slat closure, and its rounded corners both at the end that accommodates the access and at the opposite end where there is a double helical ramp that organizes the vertical flows of the vehicles.
The design pays special attention to the management of all flows in order to avoid crossings between pedestrians and vehicles, both buses and private cars. The choice of a double helical ramp, as the main core for vehicles to move upwards and downwards in the parking facility, has been key to optimizing traffic flow, both for cars and buses. The shape of the ramp allows vehicles to make an easy turn natural bordering the building. In this way, the requirement imposed by the client for the exit of the station to be on the same street by the same street as the entrance is respected. Inside, the ramp splits, serving as an exterior arrival ramp, for the cars to climb to each of the floors, and an interior exit ramp. At one end, there is a reverse double helix where each ramp begins, to allow a direct descent without crossovers.
The bus station runs parallel to the car park and the tram station. The users of the intermodal station, therefore, travel shorter distances between the different modes of transport, an important element given the proximity to Nantes airport.
The project includes all disciplines involved in the urban planning project of the future bus station, including its accesses and landscaping solutions, in addition to the disciplines associated with the construction of the new car park, including signage. IDOM has been responsible for the project from its conception to the Project Management of the Works.
