Drive-by Inspiration

As a designer, pretty much anything can provide inspiration, and oddly enough for me, a parking garage has been my latest inspiration. Driving along 4th Street at the corner of the 10 in Santa Monica sits a colorful new architectural delight. With it's beach-hued panels (sea blue, solar yellow, citrus orange, and palm green) and an airy, open quality, you'd think it was another luxury condominium beach project. But alas, this is Santa Monica, and it's the grand ol' Civic Center parking garage. The cool thing is that this parking structure is actually an environmentally LEED designed structure that's powered by solar energy with its photovoltaic roof panels, open facades allowing natural ventilation and illumination, and a storm drain water treatment system (yeah, no dumping in the ocean!) Although I've really only driven by during the day to enjoy some of my favorite color combinations (blues, greens, yellows, and oranges), the glow at night is even more spectacular. To document this color palette I love so much, I stopped at the corner light and snapped this picture with my Iphone so that I could recreate this color combination for my new Summer '09 collection. The new spacedye color, which I have appropriately named Solar, will be perfect in my cotton/seaweed (yes, seaweed yarn!) knitted Summery tops, beachy hoodies, and sultry sundresses for next Summer.