The “Kleine Mandel” (little almond) is a large car park for around 2,800 cars located at the entrance to the central area of the Hamburg airport terminal. Key design parameters included integration of the building into local structures, typological positioning, architectural formulation as a distinctive solitary building, and an ideal ratio of parking spaces to circulation area. The five-storey car park with six parking levels unpretentiously describes a rounded triangle with high recognition value that is carefully embedded in the surroundings. A permeable screen of horizontal concrete strips abstracts the scale. By means of recurring elements, the specific form of an equilateral triangle permitted efficient construction with comparably little space required for the necessary parking spaces. As a result, there was still room for a spacious courtyard ensuring adequate supply of fresh air and daylight, thus dispensing with the need for mechanical ventilation and minimising the use of artificial lighting, which in turn facilitates wayfinding inside the building.
