It’s no secret that space is limited in Japan, which is why architects and engineers strive to come up with novel solutions and ideas to make the best of what they have to work with.
As you can see in these pictures on Michael Flux’s website, another thing we know about Japan and its people, is their love for bicycles. Combine the two and you have a problem, especially when it comes to parking in crowded cities.
To the surprise of no one, the Japanese used technology to offer an answer to this problem with the design and development of an automated, underground parking system that makes use of a robotic arm and an elevator to store bikes out of sight.
Danny Choo talked to a representative of the company that makes these parking systems, Masanori Mitobe. “These bicycle parks work on the concept of taking things that take up space and moving them underground,” he said. “This gives us more space to use up on the surface. It allows the space to be used for more things needed every day. One machine can hold as many as 200 bikes, and we will be rolling more of these out across Japan.”
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