The team designed the 1,000-stall parking structure after determining the number of cars that the facility could support, given project parameters. The result was an enclosed, ventilated structure that was strikingly inviting, historic in context, accessible and user friendly.

Connected to the city’s skyway system, a transparent circulation core brings life to the street scape below, making obvious the path descending from the connected skyway system. The circulation cores also anchor the arched brick arcade along Wabasha Street, which houses the block’s retail center. Rhythmical vertical brick openings cap the trellised retail storefronts, and expressive cast-aluminum screens fill the openings, softening the impact of the vehicles within and recalling the character of the Mississippi River bluffs.