WASHINGTON, DC. Open from October 17, 2009 through July 11, 2010, House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage is the first major exhibition to explore this familiar structure and open conversations about parking’s role in our society and innovative parking solutions for the future.

Featuring artifacts such as a 1927 Ford Model A, sculptures and other works of art, interactive models, multimedia from popular movies and television shows, and historic photographs, House of Cars explores how the built environment has evolved to accommodate the automobile. The exhibition also highlights innovative parking solutions from the past century including images of the first underground garages, a touchable model of a ramp system, and parking garage designs by famous architects including Santiago Calatrava and Frank Lloyd Wright.

In conjunction with House of Cars, the National Building Museum is developing a variety of education programs that will further examine some of the topics in the exhibition. A lecture series will include programs that explore the future of parking and an overview of the cost of designing cities for cars instead of people. The Museum will also host a film series titled From Comedy to Creepy: Parking Garages in American Media that surveys the parking garage’s role in American film and television, from the shadowy world of “Deep Throat” in All the President’s Men to the cast of Seinfeld getting lost in a parking garage.