The 20 Coolest Parking Lots in the World

Parking lots and parking garages suck. Unless you're sneaking off with your girl to have some fun in your car or posting up between those yellow lines to tailgate before the big game, no good can come of them. We've spent more time walking around aimlessly searching for our cars than we'd like to think about. Even the vibe of them is extremely creepy, mainly because of repeated unfortunate events that have occurred in their dark, secluded spaces. Not all garages are like this, though.

More and more often, more money, more resources, and more thought is being put into the designs of car parks, resulting in some beautiful structures that you'd never think would be a place to house a vehicle. Check out The 20 Coolest Parking Lots in the World for some inspiration that parking your car won't always be so terrible.

Location: Kansas City, MO

Are you into the Lord of the Rings? What about To Kill a Mockingbird? Or maybe some Charles Dickens is more your style. Whatever your style, you'll be able to find what you need at the Kansas City Library, which is home to this outrageously awesome garage that was crafted to look like books for Goliath.

Location: Edison, NJ

We know what you're thinking. "What the F is that? It's just a parking lot." No, it's not. It's a parking lot designed by the EPA as an experiement to test out three new surfaces. You know when it rains, and all the drains clog, leading to a bunch of water building up in the lot? The EPA wants to stop this, so they're testing three porous materials that could be used instead of straight asphalt. The lot has 28 spaces made of interlocking concrete paver blocks, 41 made of porous concrete, and 28 porous asphalt spaces. They're also testing how well the materials remove pollutants and recharge ground water. Pretty cool, huh?

Location: Detroit, MI

In 1926 the Michigan Theater was a great representation of what the bustling Motor City had become. In 1976 things were so bad that the city considered demolition. Instead, the history was preserved, and the bottom portion of the theater was turned into a space for parking. Let's hope they put some reinforcement in there.

Location: Baltimore, MD

This Baltimore parking space is all about the interior design. In an idea that screams, "why the hell didn't we do this years ago?" the airport put in digital signs that direct the drivers to open parking spots. DUH.

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

Talks of buildings that are intended to help revitalize cities are usually centered around new theaters, stadiums, even gigantic malls. Vancouver, oddly enough, rested that responsibility on a parking garage. The department store-turned-parking space cost a whopping $28,000,000 and uses pieces of old Vancouver bridges in the design.

Location: Cologne, Germany

The Rhine river in Cologne is notorious for its flooding, so the Germans needed to figure out a better way to protect their cars. That's why the 2.5-mile was built. It can reportedly withstand 37 feet of water before it'll start leaking.

Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Elliott and Associates Architects showed off the useful power of mesh with the glowing Car Park One in OKC. This thing's so nice that players from the Thunder would probably park there.

Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Any time a parking garage is designed to look nothing like a parking garage, it's a good thing. The two-tone planked exterior gives the Sixth street Pitt parking a modern look and is a perfect central location for Heinz Hall, the Byham Theater, PNC Park, Heinz Field, and Point State Park.

Location: Chicago, IL

Greenway was built for those people who can't ride their bikes to work or into the city but still feel terribly about spewing toxic gases into the atmosphere by driving a car. Greenway powers itself, thanks to eco-friendly features like gigantic wind turbines.

Location: Melbourne, Australia

One way to brighten up the spooky atmosphere of a parking garage is to open it up with more glass, mesh, and space. If you can't do that, primary colors tend to do the trick, as well, which was part of the focus at the Eureka Car Park. Designer Axel Peemoeller color-coded the entire garage with nifty optically illusional words on the walls that lead you where you want to go. Red will take you to an exit, Green leads in intot he garage, blue goes up, and yellow goes down.

Location: San Francisco, CA

WRNS Studio and Walker Parking spearheaded this award-winning structure. The north and south side of the garage are made of perforated aluminum panels that have an illusion of California's redwood forests. Not exactly the typical idea of "green," but we like the awesome effect.

Location: Chicago, IL

The twin Marina City structures sit on the Chicago river and look out onto Lake Michigan. The towers, which were built in 1964, are not entirely for parking, as the 896 available spaces are for the people who live in apartments on the higher two-thirds of the buildings.

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Paul de Ruiter was given the challenge of building something that fit in an urban landscape, could accomodate 650 cars, and would hold space for some stores and eateries. The result was this beautifully designed "parking garage (we feel bad calling it that)." The center of the structure is open, so there's plenty of fresh air and light coming in from all angles.

Location: Umihotaru, Tokyo Bay

How many garages do you know that are part of a man-made island? We're not waiting, we already know the answer is none. Well, one, now that we're introducing you to Umihotaru. The Tokyo Bay bridge and tunnel combo joins Kawasaki to Kisarazu. The bridge and tunnel meet at the middle at an artificial island, where the parking garage resides.

Location: Munich, Germany

The Welt isn't exactly a parking lot, but it does store a ton of BMWs; they're just for sale. The Welt is essentially one of the most high-tech showrooms in the world. It's coupled with an interactive museum, and hosts some of the most dramatic handovers you'll ever see. We could probably spend days in this thing.

Location: Stuttgart, Germany

The Parkhaus is the exact opposite of the dark, damp, freaky feeling of a typical parking garage. Total 360 glass allows for plenty of light, and a courtyard with a river and a waterfall in the center makes you feel like your're at a relaxing spa.

Location: Miami, FL

This beautiful $70 million work of art is the creation of Herzog & de Meuron, the people that built the Olympic Bird's Nest. Our favorite part? The view of the ocean from the built-in rooftop.

Location: Yongin, South Korea

Easily one of the most beautiful structures on this list, the Herma was created by JOHO Architecture. Its shimmery exterior was built with 600 polycarbonate and 900 stainless steel panels, giving it an appeal that you'd normally expect from a state-of-the-art apartment building.

Location: Santa Monica, CA

Naturally, the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified parking space was in California (you Prius-loving sons of guns). The Santa Monica Civic Center can house 900 gas-fed cars, 14 electric cars, and also has space to store bikes. The roof's solar panels power the 300,000-square-foot structure, which also uses more efficient LED lights.

Location: Wolfsburg, Germany

You've seen it in your favorite sci-fi movie. You're parked at a ground floor, and out of nowhere, a platform arrives. You drive the car onto the platform, and it gives you a magic carpet (err, sheet metal?) ride to your parking spot, some 15 levels up. Actually, that scene isn't from a movie, it's the VW Autostadt, and it's where people can actually purchase cars. They're 20 stories high, and are beautifully lit at night. For people who want to take direct delivery of their vehicles, this is the most stylish way to do so.