To fulfil this commission from the municipality of Leiden for a temporary parking facility on the Morssingel, we formed a Design-Build partnership with construction and engineering company Aan de Stegge. The result is both demountable and sustainable.
Morspoort car park is located opposite the western historical city gate of Leiden, and within walking distance of Leiden train station and the city centre. The multi-storey facility provides 390 parking spaces across four levels. The municipality plans to operate the facility for ten years, pending development of the area.
The Design-Build partnership allowed us to work closely with the construction company from the very beginning of the design process, facilitating our delivery of a fully demountable and sustainable facility of high aesthetic and functional merit. Despite the temporary nature of the building, we opted for sustainable materials in its construction. In addition, we were able to minimise our build time and limit construction waste by building with large, prefabricated sections. The Morspoort facility can be easily dismantled once it has served its purpose and reassembled elsewhere, in a different configuration, if required.
We kept pedestrian traffic and car traffic apart, to ensure everyone's safety at all times. We also kept the entrance and exit apart from the stairwells, to ensure sufficient distance between pedestrians and moving cars. The layout of the facility is clear and logical, and to make parking easier we arranged the parking spots at an angle of eighty degrees. The perforated, see-through facade cladding gives users a clear view of the surrounding area, which makes for easier spatial orientation. In accordance with the local residents’ wishes, we chose a mesh made from sustainable and recyclable plastic for the cladding.
The natural ventilation resulting from our use of perforated façade cladding minimised the facility’s energy demands to a considerable degree. In addition, we devised a smart lighting system that allows for a maximal use of natural light, and employs dynamic identification and signage, motion sensors, daylight-responsive lighting and highly energy-efficient lighting fixtures. We minimised energy consumption even further by our choice of air-conditioning system for the parking attendant’s cubicle, the operation of which relies on heat recovery and a heat pump.
| Location | Leiden |
| Total floor area | 12.700 m² |
| Volume | 32.200 m³ |
| Program | Temporary car park for 390 cars |
| Start design | February 2010 |
| Start Construction | April 2012 |
| Completion | September 2012 |
| Client | Municipality of Leiden |
| Design | Paul de Ruiter Architects |
| Project Architect | Paul de Ruiter |
| Project Team | Noud Paes, Chris Collaris, Christian Quesada van Beresteyn, Niels Groeneveld |
| Construction Consultant | JVZ Ingenieurs |
| Contractor | Bouwbedrijf Aan de Stegge, Twello |
| Car park operator | Continental Car Parks |
| Photography | Pieter Kers |
