Designer garage and home x ‘Ferrari’ Dino 246 GTS
Designer pads that are custom-built – or just suitably spacious for car and human co-habitation – are the stuff of dreams for this London-based writer without off-street parking. Until those dreams come true, there’s a new full-colour book to ogle, celebrating some of the finest abodes for cars called Carchitecture: Houses with Horsepower. Featuring incredible photography of unbelievable car cribs and their backstories, the well-laid out 192-page tome covers brands like Porsche, Maserati, DeLorean, BMW, Mercedes and Saab (the ultimate architect’s car). Or the Dino 246 GTS by Ferrari (pictured) that sits alongside many others in this purpose-built house by Texas-based Matt Fajkus Architecture. On the ground floor is a garage repair shop and exhibition space and above it a massive living space in line with the tree tops, which cantilevers far enough over one end to form a car port. I could definitely live here, or even just house-sit for a bit, if someone was needed to look after it (and its car keys)…
Scandi barn x Jaguar E-Type
This superb photo of an immaculate Jaguar E-Type perfectly framed by the darkly minimalist and modernist barn alongside, looks like a scene straight out of a Scandinavian crime thriller – but is actually a 1000 cubic-metre log cabin built in Holland with probably no murderers of Scandi descent anywhere near. At least its natty peat roof is imported from Norway.
Chinese brutalism x Alfa Tipo 33 Stradale
When your classic car is this beautiful, valuable and (probably) fragile, why wouldn’t you find a spot in your building to keep it viewable, safe and warm? The space in this case is a huge abandoned textile factory in Shenzen, China, transformed into artist studios, exhibition spaces and halls. The red Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale designed by Franco Scaglione was only made between 1967 and 1969 and in tiny numbers, ensuring each one sports a multi-million pound price tag today.
Palms Springs modernism x Cadillac Sedan de Ville
This butterfly-roof building designed by Palmer & Krisel in 1957 is situated on Caliente Road in Palm Springs. It's a Californian location just outside Los Angeles where city folk started to build their ‘getaway’ second homes from the late-40s inspired by the likes of legendary crooner Frank Sinatra who had one of the first houses in the area. The metallic green, second-generation 1961 Cadillac de Ville sedan parked outside in this photo plays the colour-coordination card perfectly, both in relation to the house and to some extent the cacti out front and the palm trees behind too. It’s the sort of photo that, for a moment, makes me wish I was part of The Rat Pack and living in the late 50s and early 60s…
Carchitecture: Houses with Horsepower by Thijs Demeulemeester, Thomas De Bruyne and Bert Voet is published by Lannoo
Keyword: Houses with horsepower: ‘Carchitecture’ book is a must for classic car and architecture fans