Albert Cuyp underwater parking garage, Amsterdam

The Albert Cuyp parking garage was built by Max Bögl Nederland B.V. and commissioned by the municipality of Amsterdam with the aim to increase the quality of life in De Pijp neighborhood in Amsterdam and to make better use of the scarce public space. The parking garage reveals almost nothing at street level, as it is completely concealed under an existing canal to blend into the urban landscape. The parking garage not only creates space for parking by making efficient use of the limited public space, but also offers space for relaxation, planting and playing children.

Transformation of a neighborhood

There was little room for plants, cyclists and pedestrians in the narrow streets of De Pijp neighborhood. Moreover, the parking pressure was high, resulting in a lot of search traffic. In the Frans Hals neighborhood in De Pijp, almost all parking places at street level have been removed and relocated to the parking garage. Former parking spaces have been redesigned to create more public space for new playgrounds, plants and squares. This has transformed the neighborhood into an attractive area with more space for cyclists, pedestrians and greenery. The quality of life in Amsterdam’s De Pijp neighborhood has improved immeasurably with more spacious, greener and quieter streets and an almost car-free neighborhood has emerged.

Every effort has been made to ensure that the addition of an underwater parking garage has minimal consequences for its surrounding environment. The idea behind the architectural design by ZJA is to blend the parking garage into the existing urban landscape. All installations are out of sight, and the ramps are integrated into the canal side roads. The motto is ‘simple and safe’ and the visibility of the entire structure is as unobtrusive as possible so that the quality of the public domain for pedestrians and cyclists is optimized.

This parking facility qualifies as a smart garage, because the parking system shows the user in which slot he has parked his car. The real intelligence here however lies in the fact that not one square foot of the city has been sacrificed to provide parking for 600 cars. The Albert Cuyp underwater parking garage is an outstanding example of how a neighborhood can transform and create more public space for residents in a densely populated city with limited urban space. The underwater parking garage could be an exemplary prototype for other cities that have similar objectives as the Municipality of Amsterdam.