Would a subterranean parking garage need to be included as infrastructure? Or are we looking at infrastructure from an airplane-view?
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Eliot Allen
LEED AP-ND, PrincipalCriterion Planners
LEEDuser Expert
303 thumbs up
May 12, 2017 - 7:51 pm
Stacey, I think a subterranean parking garage would not be included since it doesn't fit with the credit item (a) list of grade-level circulation facilities, and clearly doesn't fall under items (b) through (d). And since an underground parking garage also functions as a structural base for whatever is built on top of it, it really isn't strictly infrastructure in the utility-sense.
Eliot
Stacey Olson
SW Regional Design Resilience LeaderGensler
16 thumbs up
November 1, 2017 - 4:28 pm
Thanks Eliot. I didn't perceive item A as being limited to grade-level circulation facilities, with item C indicating 'base and sub-base materials for the above'. So the question is rather, if parking lots can be included, wouldn't a level of parking (treated as sub-base material), be included as the definition of infrastructure? You bring up a good point that the function also serves as structure - but I'd argue that we should then able to exclude all actual structural components (columns and perimeter walls), and still be able to include non-structural flooring materials sitting above those structural elements... No?
Eliot Allen
LEED AP-ND, PrincipalCriterion Planners
LEEDuser Expert
303 thumbs up
November 13, 2017 - 7:00 pm
Stacey, I take your point about an underground parking lot being the functional equivalent of a surface-level parking lot, and the credit doesn't include any explicit reference to surface or grade-level limitations, so I'm changing my May response to agree that base and sub-base materials for an underground parking lot can be included.
Eliot