International Parking Institute (IPI) has awarded the underground parking garage Kustwerk Katwijk, the Netherlands, with a top award in the category for Architectural Achievement in the 2017 Awards of Excellence competition in New Orleans.
The handout ceremony took place in New Orleans on 24 May. Every year since 1982, the IPI Awards of Excellence competition recognizes world-class examples of parking design and program innovation.
What makes this garage so special is the fact that it was constructed as part of the national coastal reinforcement project.
The underground parking garage is a design by Royal HaskoningDHV, ZJA Zwarts & Jansma Architects, Ballast Nedam and OKRA Landscape Architects. Construction was commissioned by the city of Katwijk and completed by Ballast Nedam.
The garage was built as a new coastal defense scheme together with a new levee and located underneath the dune landscape, hidden from view.
The Katwijk Coastal work was part of a national 780 million euro program to reinforce the Dutch coast at ten locations. Consultancy firm Arcadis was responsible for the coastal reinforcement.
Design Leader Jurgen Herbschleb from Royal HaskoningDHV commented: ‘ We are delighted with this recognition and are very pleased that the jury is particularly impressed with our successful transformation of a parking garage into a public space, which local residents and tourists like to visit.’
Due to the unique combination of coastal reinforcement, an underground parking garage and a recreational dune landscape, Kustwerk Katwijk has won several awards including the Dutch Best Building of the Year Award 2016, Falco Award 2015, Rijnlandse Architectuur Prijs 2015, Prix d’Excellence 2016 Nederland, WAN Infrastructure Award 2016 and the German Design Award 2017.