A multi-storey car park is a building or part thereof which is designed specifically to be for vehicle parking and where there are a number of floors on which parking takes place. c.f. a car park ( a.k.a. a parking lot ).

Nomenclature

The term multi-storey car park is used in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and some Commonwealth countries. In some parts of North America, the term parking garage is used. In many places in North America, parking garage refers only to an indoor structure, an outdoor multi-level parking facility may be called a parking deck, a parking structure, a parking ramp, or a parkade, depending on one's geographic location.

Design

Movement of vehicles between floors can be effected by:

• vehicle lifts
• interior ramps
• exterior ramps - which may take the form of a circular ramp ( a.k.a. a 'whirley-gig' )

In locations where the car park is built on sloping land, the car park may be split level.

Car parks built to serve residential properties are usually below the dwellings, whereas car parks which serve shopping centres can sometimes be built adjacent to the shopping centre so as to effect easier access at each floor between shops and parking.