In my neighborhood, the most prominent feature of most houses, when viewed from the front, is the garage. The garage is also the primary entrance and exit, since we tend to come and go in our cars. The front door, on the other hand, is tucked away in the corner where it is seldom used.
I propose that the suburban house of the future be constructed with a giant front door (big enough to drive a car through) and a giant foyer, atrium or vestibule (big enough to park a car in). With the exception of being huge and having one or two cars parked in it, the entryway resembles that of a regular present-day house.
When you arrive home from work, simply push the remote-control button that makes your front door open, then drive up the garden path and strait into your house.-- AO, Jun 03 2003 Carbicle http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Carbicle [scubadooper, Oct 04 2004] Have I got a house for you... http://www.movingtu....com/firehouse.jpeg [DrCurry, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Vega$ http://us.imdb.com/...22Vega%24%22+(1978)Where Dan Tanna parked his car in his house. [phoenix]Dan Tanna's Vega$ house on the Strip, Circa 1984 http://www.amigazon...om/vegas/vegas.html"One unusual feature of this "house" was that when Dan pulled his mid-50s, fire-engine-red T-Bird convertible into his garage, he could just hop out of the car and be standing in his living room." [phoenix, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Dan Tanna's Vega$ house on the Strip, Circa 1984 http://www.amigazone.com/vegas/vegas.html"One unusual feature of this "house" was that when Dan pulled his mid-50s, fire-engine-red T-Bird convertible into his garage, he could just hop out of the car and be standing in his living room." [phoenix, Oct 04 2004] I assume in your future we all drive either electric or hydrogen powered cars. I'd like to see a picture to make sure it's aesteticly acceptable.-- Worldgineer, Jun 03 2003 If we had drive thru' kitchens, bedrooms, lounges and bathrooms, we wouldn't need to leave our carbicle.-- scubadooper, Jun 03 2003 For some reason I like this idea. + I'm not sure why, since I certainly wouldn't want to park my car in my house.
This could work with a hybrid-electric car if it were designed for it. The design on the Prius could do this, but I've heard that the software causes it to always start the engine at first. You cold also make this work with existing cars if you put in a big enough ventilation fan close to the tail pipe.
If you make the shower big enough, that can double as a car-wash. You wouldn't want a dirty car in your foyer would you?
I imagine the front door looking like a slightly oversized version of a fairly standard double front door. It might be nice if the foyer was large enough for two or more cars to go in and turn around so they could share the same door. I don't like the look of houses like those in [AO's] neighborhood that have garage doors as the rimary feature.
I think a house looks a lot nicer if it has a step or two to get up to the front porch, so this will be another excuse to buy a jacked up SUV: "I need it so I can drive it up the steps into my house."
Okay, after re-reading my ideas, I see that half of them make the other half impossible. Oh well, I'm just sharing my thoughts...-- scad mientist, Jun 03 2003 Sounds like any converted firehosue in the city. (Well, maybe not quite any - most people use the big central space as a living room not a garage.)-- DrCurry, Jun 03 2003 I don't want to sound negative, but I don't like this at all, and I'll explain.
At the weekend I was visiting my parents. Their house was full of family and friends and it was a great night. As each guest eventually left, they were all seen to the door by everyone remaining in the house, with much hugging and "Bye now, mind the step."
It was nice. And I would find it difficult to do in a smelly garage with cars and the inevitable junk lying about that lies about in every garage. Just my humble opinion.-- saker, Jun 04 2003 saker, I think I understand what you mean. There is a chance that a foyer built to accommodate cars would resemble a garage, which is opposite to the intent of my idea. I mean to oppose the common practice of entering and leaving a house through the smelly, junky garage, or anything that resembles a smelly, junky garage. As I envision it, the foyer built to accommodate a car would be just like a regular foyer, except there would be a place to put a car, right next to the place where you leave your umbrella and hang your coat.
As far as the entry way being smelly and full of junk, I don’t think it would be. The house would still have a “garage” (smaller and in the back of the house since it wouldn’t need to be car-accessible), which would still contain all of the things that tend to make garages smelly and junky, such as paint, lawnmower, and wood shop. Modern cars (even more so future cars) tend not to be smelly or junky if they are kept clean and well-maintained. There are many cars that are classified as ultra-low or super-low emissions vehicles, which would not produce any detectable exhaust fumes in the 10 seconds of indoor-engine-running required to drive them in or out the front door.-- AO, Jun 04 2003 It still seems like a fancy, carpeted, nicely decorated garage. Now, I don't automatically associate the term "garage" with smelly, junk-filled storage areas, although most garages tend to become that; I'm simply following the rule that the word "garage," for as long as I can remember (since the latter half of the last century) has meant "the place where we park the car." Make it as nice as you like, eventually it's going to smell like grease and oil and fuel and exhaust fumes- because all those things are associated with cars.-- whlanteigne, Jun 05 2003 The incessant clinking of hot exhaust parts would drive me crazy. Also, where do you put all the car related items that do need to be near the car(tools, etc...).-- demtangs, Jun 15 2003 Would I buy a house built like that? No.
I might be happy to buy a house with a regular front door that also had a pleasant garage decorated like an atrium, but I'd be unlikely to add much value for it.-- FloridaManatee, Jun 16 2003 [Ack] After reading this auto-centric idea, I can't but help think of the Talking Heads line from Stop Making Sense, "In the future, we will all drive standing up."
Inspiration for the Segway?-- oneoffdave, Jun 16 2003 This idea keeps coming back to me. It definitely seems to be the direction of house evolution. I saw a house with a garage that was carpeted in soft astroturf-like carpet. People shared space with the cars. These were domesticated cars; clean, pretty - not some oil dripping filthy old Nova. It reminded me of the pioneer days where sometimes the cows and pigs got to come inside to warm up. This would be even more doable if hydrogen/fuel cell cars become popular - less mess.
I think the best immediate application of this would be as scenery for some near future movie. No mention would be made of it, but cars and motorcycles would just be right there in the house, with life going on around, on and in them.-- bungston, Jun 22 2003 Outside the house you would need brushholes - these plates would sink down, revealing brushes. The cars wheels would spin in place, removing road grit and dirt. It would be the car equivalent of wiping feet.-- bungston, Apr 11 2004 random, halfbakery