Commonwealth Architects provided architectural and interior design services to the Virginia Department of General Services for the Broad Street Parking Garage, a multi-use parking facility on the former site of the Murphy Hotel.
The garage provides over 500 parking spaces across 7 above-grade levels for Commonwealth of Virginia employees, 24 of which provide electric charging stations catering to the growing demand for sustainable transportation. A portion of the ground floor and the entirety of the sublevels host office spaces for the state as well as support spaces for the new General Assembly Building (GAB) across 9th Street, in addition to a loading dock that will also serve both the garage tenant and GAB. A below-grade tunnel connects the GAB to the garage for employee safety and convenience.
Constructed by S.B. Ballard, the deck is a concrete column and beam structure with post-tensioned slabs. The material palette has been selected to blend with the neighboring state buildings. The façade, comprised of precast panels in two tones, creates a horizontal base delineating tenant spaces from parking levels above while taking a nod from the US District Court Building to its west, accentuated by vertical storefront systems of architectural metal mesh. Bronze emblems adorning the stair towers are a modern interpretation of the state flower, the dogwood.
Lion heads salvaged from the former hotel’s cornice stoically marking each level at the elevator cores and a timeline of the site’s history etched in bronze hung on the 9th street face weave together past, present and future.
