Main Parking Ramp

Line One is focused on travel and movement. Every road, pathway, and planar conduit is a part of this Realm. Sometimes, though, a traveler needs a place to pull over for a while. Not to stop, mind you; no one stops in Line One. Perish the thought. But just to, you know, rest. To that end, parking facilities—buildings and lots with the sole purpose of storing vehicles temporarily while their drivers putter around between Point A and Point B—are as much a part of Line One as the roads that surround them.   The Main Parking Ramp DownTown is a towering behemoth which sits right behind the Gri’x Public Library, across the street from City Hall. Centrally located, the Main Ramp serves Gri'x University, numerous DownTown offices and shops, and scores of visiting gadabouts.

ARCHITECTURE

  This monumental cement structure occupies an entire city block, with walkways spanning the bordering streets that lead to the Gri’x University Promenade, the DownTown Annex of Mall28, and two or three supplemental ramps on nearby lots.   Its original architect, the notoriously brilliant and woefully spontaneous G. Faron Gripstick, was working through their obligatory Brutalist phase during the initial conceptualization and construction. Gripstick designed the first six floors of the Ramp, and was working on a seventh—which was promised to feature a drive-in movie theater and a water slide—when they suddenly declared that they had just transitioned into their Art Nouveau phase, put the project “on hold,” and pissed right off to Twis’tangle to turn a grove of bondwood trees into a dance hall.

AMENITIES

  The Ramp provides ample signage, designed to direct drivers from one level to the next, as well as an array of arrows pointing this way and that. Some of these arrows are rumored to point to the actual Exit gates, though they haven’t all been tested. Inexperienced drivers should rely on the official maps, bolted to the central support walls on each floor.   The walls also provide plenty of room for graffiti artists to ply their trade. Whether or not one abides by any additional instructions found in the graffiti is up to the individual, and the Parking Ramp Maintenance Crew accepts no responsibility for any consequences of that decision.   Stairs and elevators are available on every floor. While these can accommodate most physical forms, visitors of unusual size or shape should plan their route accordingly. The walls on every side of the Ramp are open to the surrounding air, so those who can fly—or who deign to be lifted by the Ramp’s on-site crane, for a small additional service fee—are invited to take advantage of these supplemental access points.

DEFENSES

The Parking Ramp itself has no known defenses, though, to be fair, there are no recorded incidents of any forces mounting an attack upon it. Should such an event occur, the ramp would be overrun quite easily. However, once the invaders were inside, it's certain that the attendants in the little exit booths would simply refuse to raise the boom gates, trapping them within until the hourly fees drove them into bankruptcy.