Q-Park Ravet is a parking garage for not as you know it

river and city with Q-Park Ravet — Q-Park Ravet

(Image credit: Cyrille Weiner)

Q-Park Ravet is a parking garage but not as you know it. Conceived by Hérault Arnod Architectures and located in the French city of Chambéry, the project comprises a flowing, glowing, glass-enclosed structure that houses the necessary car parking spaces, alongside a bright red sculptural staircase and box that hang on its façade, executed in collaboration with artist Krijn de Koning. The Paris-based architecture studio and Dutch artist arrived at this imaginative solution when faced with the challenge of creating the, typically, fairly utilitarian structure, on a plot set against the city's biggest 12th-century monument – the castle of the Dukes of Savoy.

Q-Park Ravet glass wall and red contrast

Q-Park Ravet by Hérault Arnod Architectures with Krijn de Koning

Q-Park Ravet’s main body was carved as a curved, translucent volume with gentle edges and a discreet personality during the day – which becomes illuminated at night, as it comes alive through contrast, light and transparent movement. De Koning's artistic touch brings an added layer of spectacle that transforms the scheme from straightforward infrastructure to a layered piece of urban drama. In collaboration, the design team attached a sculptural ‘belvedere’ (or viewing platform) strategically placed to oversee the castle to the exterior of the garage building, allowing visitors to use it as a viewing platform to admire and take in the city's historical treasure.

side view of glass and levels at Q-Park Ravet car park

Photovoltaic panels on the rooftop, and gardens planted with ferns, periwinkles, maples, hydrangeas, pines, fig trees, lavender, and various grass typologies inside, blend a city-centre experience with a nod to nature through sustainable architecture techniques.

Meanwhile, 'the belvedere lends a public and urban dimension to the building, enabling a new way to embrace the city', the team write. 'The belvedere-sculpture, cantilevered out to the axis of the rue de Boigne, is attached to the building of the car park, with tones subduing the warm colours of the façades of the old town houses. From above, it offers a majestic panorama towards the urban landscape, the river, the castle, and the Alps. Descending the belvedere staircase puts you on the axis of the street, and it is framed at mid-height to highlight a unique perspective of the historic city.'

Q-Park Ravet with green walls and long city views

herault-arnod.fr

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).