The intersection of cars and architecture is where we’d love to live

by Nik Berg

18 October 2021 2 min read

Frank Lloyd Wright, the master of mid-century modern architecture, was a total petrolhead. Among more than 80 cars he owned during his life were machines by Bentley, Cord, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, and Cadillac, and he famously said, “A car is not a horse, and it doesn’t need a barn.” Instead, Wright was a proponent of the “car port,” integrating into his architecture a special space for the automobile.

Many have followed, as exemplified in a wonderful new book by design writers Thijs Demeulemeester and Bert Voet, appropriately titled Carchitecture Houses with Horsepower. It’s a celebration of what happens when the two great skills of building design and car design come together, with page after page of glorious pictures of machines and structures, along with fascinating essays on topics such as why the Saab was the perfect architects’ car. You’ll have to buy the book to find the answer, but in the meantime we’ve highlighted a few of the car homes that we covet the most.

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Japan

In Takamatsu, Japan, a client of FujiwaraMuro architects had an unusual request. He wanted his home to be as private as possible, except for the garage, which he wanted to be clearly visible from the street, and from inside the house as well. The result is the minimalist masterpiece in white, shown in the feature image at the top of this story and also in the above photo.

Belgium

The sunken garage of this modern home in Kempusche Vaart, Belgium, features a glass ceiling so that the owner’s Porsche 356 Speedster replica can be viewed from the comfort of his living room.

Israel

This light-manipulating box in Tel Aviv is called “In Praise of Shadows,” but it could just as easily be “In Praise of SLs,” as the integrated garage features a glass wall that allows the owner to view his car as the light streams across it.

Texas

Texas-based Matt Fajkus Architecture created this amazing home with a huge cantilevered living space providing car port shelter for the owner’s classics, together with a huge garage that takes up almost half of the ground floor.

Belgium

We’re loving the colour matching of the industrial mesh frontage with the little VW Karmann Ghia that lives in the car port of this studio in Bruges, Belgium, created by BASIL Architecture.

Belgium

Built for a Belgian Maserati dealer, it’s no surprise that this home by architect Dieter Vander Velpen has a very special space to display the owner’s Maserati Mexico.

The Netherlands

The owner of this Tesla Roadster will have no trouble locating a plug to charge his car as this home in Arnhem, The Netherlands, shows the car driving right into the living room. The house was converted from an old industrial unit by Rotterdam’s Studio OxL.

New York

Finally, here’s a home by the man who started it all, Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed in 1951 for 26-year-old Roland Reisley in Usonia, New York, the amazing angular wood-lined roof extends to protect the owner’s Mercedes-Benz 300. Reisley still lives there, but we don’t know if the Benz does.