Innovative Sustainability Project of the Year: Sacramento State’s Parking Structure 5

From the November 2018 issue of
Parking Magazine.

By Carla Kalogeridis and Thomas Marcetti

Sacramento State University’s 1,750-stall, six-level Parking Structure 5 serves the parking needs of students, faculty, and staff while complementing the dense forest in the adjacent arboretum.

“Sustainability is a personal crusade of mine,” says Tony Lucas, MA Ed, senior director university transportation, parking, and support services at Sacramento State. “We’re a parking organization, but we do what we do holistically. It’s in our DNA,” he says.

Team Accolades

The parking design-build team, which included Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture and Clark Pacific, Inc., addressed sustainability from the design and pre-construction phases to construction methodology and operations. A winner of the Parksmart Gold certification by the Green Building Certification Institute for the U.S. Green Building Council, Parking Structure 5 is the highest-performing, most-sustainable parking structure west of the Mississippi.

Saving Time — and Congestion

The parking superstructure consists of prefabricated concrete with integral architectural finishes and attachments that complement the arboretum. It was sourced and produced locally in a facility that derives over half of its energy from its own co-located solar array. The offsite manufacturing removed approximately 6,000 worker days and their associated impacts to the campus. The prefabricated  structure was constructed in under 10 months. “Using prefabricated concrete meant less congestion around the construction site,” explains Farid Ibrahim, PE, LEED AP director of building systems innovation for Clark Pacific, the general contractor on the project. “In an urban campus that needs parking, it was important to be able to free up the area.”

Sustainable Technology

The parking structure includes 51 EV charging stations with infrastructure for 43 additional future spots. The structure will have a future photovoltaic canopy at the roof to offset energy usage.

Resilience — the Ultimate in Sustainability

The structure features an integrated seismic resistance system known as the precast hybrid moment frame, designed to help it recover immediately after a large earthquake. This resiliency helps ensure that the structure will not be red-tagged or replaced after a large earthquake. “This is the ultimate in sustainability,” Ibrahim says. “It’s not only designed to preserve life, but to be usable immediately after a disaster. “It means a lot to the school, knowing that they have a structure like this,” he adds. “It’s the safest building on campus.”

Aesthetics — Mission Accomplished

Ibrahim is especially proud of the structure’s aesthetics. “The aesthetics make a big difference in the quality of the structure,” he says. Parking is the first and last impression people have of Sacramento State. They wanted the structure to be “evidently sustainable.” Therefore, the area includes clean air parking spaces, tire-filling spaces, and a courtyard with food trucks — even a coffee truck. “By the time you get to class or office, you’re relaxed and ready to go,” Lucas says.