Parking Garages - Structures or Buildings?

One of my projects to review as the Urban Designer was a Medical Office Building with an attached Parking Garage.

This, of course, led me to look at parking garages as a "type". Here are two examples - the first from San Luis Obispo, California.

...the above design is an attempt to surround the structure with a "skin" reminiscent of a downtown building.

The next example is from St. Louis, Missouri. It is an example of "expressed" and "refined" structure - showing the garage for what it is.

I like the more straightforward and refined approach.

. . .