houston's bush intercontinental airport consolidated car rental
architect
pgal
category
civic buildings
completed
2003
This consolidated rental car facility and bus maintenance facility created a model for consolidated car rentals at U.S. airports, and provides an updated modern facility with customer access to all nine rental car companies at the airport. The lighting for the 80,000 square foot main facility is bright, energetic, and uplifting for tired travelers while still being very maintenance and energy friendly.
The 1.6 million-square-foot, two-level concrete parking garage includes 5,200 covered ready/return spaces. Uniformity of lighting with low glare was key for the parking area in order to minimize shadows and eye strain for safety and security purposes. A new 1,400-linear-foot concrete and steel bus-flyover bridge provides uninterrupted access to the facility. Steplights were used in the side walls to illuminate the drive lane in place of typical street lights, which would have caused debilitating glare for the drivers passing underneath the flyover.