Criss-crossing concrete columns surround this colourful multi-storey car park by Austrian studio Kleboth Lindinger Dollnig for the classical music venues of Erl, Austria (+ slideshow).

The three-storey structure is the latest addition to the Tyrolean Festival site, which features a 1950s summer theatre and a recently completed winter concert hall. Previously there were no nearby parking facilities, so Kleboth Lindinger Dollnig was asked to add some without disrupting views across the landscape.

The steeply sloping site allowed the architects to design the building as an extension of the hillside, with a grass roof that visitors can walk over.

"We wanted to create a magic structure but not a typical house," architect Gerhard Dollnig told Dezeen. "Visitors to the Festspiele Erl should have the feeling that the garage is something like the start ramp of the event."

Drivers access each floor using entrances at different points along the hill, so there was no need to add an additional ramp inside the structure. This allowed room to fit more parking spaces in.

Gaps between the cross-bracing columns permit views inside the structure, plus a skin of steel mesh will encourage plants to grow around the facade.

"The steel net should be overgrown with special plants over the years to become a 'sleeping beauty castle' that changes its skin over the seasons," said Dollnig.

To avoid adding lines on the floors, the architects used blocks of white and orange to show the boundaries of parking spaces.

"The colour scheme should not just be seen by the cars inside the building but also by those passing on the street," added Dollnig. "Together with the lighting, the building glimmers in the night."

Other architect-designed car parks we've featured include a spiralling structure by Zaha Hadid and a car park by Herzog & de Meuron that also hosts yoga classes and weddings. See more car parks on Dezeen.

Photography is by Günther Richard Wett.

Here are a few words from Kleboth Lindinger Dollnig:

Parking Garage Tyrolean Festival Erl

The new festival parking garage is the final component in the repositioning of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Not far from the famous Passionsspielhaus and the spectacular new Winter Festival Hall, the new parking garage with 550 parking spaces is built. The garage develops a unique character. Seen from the south it is very carefully embedded in the landscape, from the north, however, it is clearly visible.

Here, the garage becomes a stage for the festival guests: When exiting the garage, visitors enter a gallery overlooking the Inn valley. Only gradually the festival houses come into view. A clean cut 150m long wall creates a clear separation between outer space and car parking area.

Optimal orientation is guaranteed by an innovative, cheerful colour scheme.