To give the Grand Parkway Park and Ride parking garage texture, NewQuest Properties Ltd. designed it with vertical and horizontal metal mesh panels on the façade and corner stairwells. At night, the mesh is illuminated by LEDs and gel filters that create a splash of color.
Mark Wade, project manager at EFI Panels LLC, the installer, says, “The mesh treatment is a really nice way to dress up what is an otherwise ordinary parking structure. During the day, there is an iridescent sheen to the metal created by the sunlight. Depending on your angle, it creates a rainbow-like effect.”
EFI Panels installed 20,800 square feet of Cambridge Architectural’s stainless steel mesh with the Cubist pattern and 80 percent open area on the 600,000-square-foot parking structure. The company used an eyebolt attachment system used to secure the large mesh panels.
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County’s (METRO) Grand Parkway Park and Ride is located on the northeast corner of Grand Parkway and I-10 West (Katy Freeway). It has 1,650 parking spaces for commuters. A dedicated bus lane on its west side is used for dropping off and picking up. METRO’s $21.1 million project was built in 11 months and completed in February 2017.
