Acceptance and usability – and thus also the economic success – of garages are based on sufficiently designed parking lots, driving/manoeuvring lanes, ramps and entrance/exit control systems. International, especially European and German design guidelines define certain measurements regarding these major garage elements.. In many cases, garages have been and are being built by applying only the minimal requirements or even less. On paper (drawings) a maximum number of lots can thus be shown by minimizing the costs. In reality, after the start of the operation, problems arise, e.g.: two lots are needed for one (bigger) vehicle which reduces the projected revenue; scratches on cars and pillars might lead to litigation; customers complain for getting wet shoes; long queues occur at entrance and/or exit. This paper discusses the necessary design vehicles, depending on the customer demand for a certain garage. Measurements for such vehicles and new statistical data (from Germany) are presented and show – as one result – that a lot for an average personal car should at least be 2,50 m wide (at 90° to lane) and lanes at least 6,00 m wide. Based on a wide range of realised garages and presenting examples, typical tasks for planning garages are being discussed: manoeuvrability of lots and lanes; best practise of column grid versus lots and lanes; headroom over lots, lanes and ramps; slope and curves of ramps; slope/folding of garage floors and queue calculation at garage entrance barriers.

garage, parking, design vehicle, parking lot, queue length