{"id":38544,"date":"2025-02-03T08:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=38544"},"modified":"2025-02-03T08:18:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:18:28","slug":"dossier-architecture-et-automobile-part-1-integrating-the-automobile-into-the-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=38544","title":{"rendered":"Dossier Architecture et Automobile – Part 1: integrating the automobile into the home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Is it possible to merge the automotive world with that of architecture, by integrating the car into the home? Should we bank on this concept called ‘carchitecture<\/em>‘? At Renault, a decade ago, we explained that \u201cit’s a question of ensuring that the automobile is in harmony with its environment, in the broadest sense of the term.<\/em> Merging the automobile and the home gives off a symbolism that goes in this direction<\/em> \u201c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St\u00e9phane Janin’s sketch of a potential fusion between the automobile and the home.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And the ‘Maison Renault’ below that followed in 2016, with the SymbioZ concept car, made this invented vision a reality. It has to be said that the impetus of the self-driving car, with its cocoon-like interior, has prompted many designers to imagine introducing our companion of individual freedom into the home of the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SymbioZ concept car and house designed for integration as a new living space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the future? Not really, since some car enthusiasts already store their cars in their living rooms! And what can we say about the first Porsche Design Tower project (below), finalized eleven years ago: a tower almost 200 m high in Miami \u201c with a special elevator for cars in a unique building<\/em> \u201d. The elevator takes your 911 right into your apartment. But the latest news is that a study by the city’s university has shown that no fewer than 35 luxury buildings built along coastal areas are sinking by more than 5 cm every year, including this famous Porsche tower! Ouch!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This dossier on architecture and the automobile is in two parts. Below, you’ll find an interview with designer St\u00e9phane Janin*, who discusses his thoughts on the theme of ‘carchitecture’<\/em>. You can then read the second part of the dossier, based on another theme: an automotive design project inspired by a famous house by a less famous architect. Are you ready? Let’s open the doors to a new world where cars and homes try to become one…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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*St\u00e9phane Janin is currently in charge of the advanced design studio based in Italy, the European annex of Chinese automaker GAC (above).<\/em> From Guyancourt to Milan, from Japan to Guangzhou in China, St\u00e9phane Janin has been responsible for phase advance and concept cars at Renault<\/em> and has worked at Inifniti<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As the designer of the 2016 SymbioZ concept car (above), when you were at Renault, the theme of ‘<\/strong>carchitecture<\/strong><\/em>‘ speaks to you!<\/strong>
I’ve been working on this theme for years, in my spare time, and I’d love to write a book that I could easily illustrate, as I have many ideas and hundreds of drawings devoted to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Can we define the theme of ‘<\/strong>carchitecture<\/strong><\/em>‘ as the integration of the automobile into the home?<\/strong>
\u201c<\/strong>There are several definitions. In concrete terms, in 2016 there was indeed the SymbioZ concept and the Renault house that housed it. This project is based on a pragmatic approach: in 80% of cases, the car doesn’t move from one place to another on a daily basis. It’s often right next to your house, or close to the office. Unfortunately, people don’t take it into account as part of their environment, even though they go to great lengths to fit out their garden or their own home. With the evolution towards the autonomous electric car, and the possibility offered by batteries to capture energy but also to redistribute it, we can envisage an enormous number of solutions, provided that the vehicle is integrated into the architecture around the home or in the home itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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St\u00e9phane Janin’s project for a Parisian house adjoining an area where the vehicle collects solar energy. All perfectly integrated into its surroundings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sothe ‘c<\/strong>architecture<\/strong><\/em>‘universe was born with the autonomous car?<\/strong>
\u201cNo, we can go back much further than that, with the idea of bringing the lifestyle of living aboard cars, with the Espace or the Sc\u00e9nic at Renault in particular. The MPVs of the 1980s-2010s offered seats that turned, providing a kind of family living room on wheels, and yet no one imagined that one day they’d be able to let go of the steering wheel! The idea of the autonomous car is not new. In the 1950s, many American car sketches anticipated it.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a theme especially for interior designers…<\/strong>
\u201cIn the field of interior design, we’ve always thought about this. When I worked alongside Patrick le Qu\u00e9ment at Renault, we used to visit furniture fairs, particularly in Milan. I like to point out that automotive design is rather special because there are interfaces between product design (a steering wheel, a control, a seat, etc.) and architecture, because on board, we encounter concerns close to those experienced by the architect, such as light, the impression of space, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 1972, Renault photographed its new R5 in a house, never imagining that one day the automobile would become an integral part of the home!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With all the <\/strong>car-bashing<\/strong><\/em> in cities, the theme of ‘<\/strong>carchitecture<\/strong><\/em>‘ seems to have lost some of its appeal?<\/strong> Just look at what’s happening in Paris!<\/strong>
\u201cYou know, I could have set up GAC’s advanced design studio in Paris, rather than Milan. But I would have been dishonest about the contract I was asked to sign. Paris is no longer a city where you want to think about automotive design. But I remain optimistic. We have to remember that the city cannot do without adapted and integrated mobility. After all, if people are sometimes obliged to go to work or to get around by car, it’s because we’ve pushed factories and businesses out of the city (Ile Seguin and Guyancourt, for example). It’s time to get to the bottom of this and make everyone face up to their responsibilities.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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You’re an optimist!<\/strong>
\u201cIt’s interesting to think optimistically about the next phase in the intelligent integration of the automobile in the city. Today, we’re in denial: we think we don’t need cars in the city. But I don’t think that’s possible. Today, we go so far as to ask architects working on urban projects not to include parking in their plans. It’s a total aberration!\u201c Read the interview with architect Manuelle Gautrand here: <\/em>https:\/\/lignesauto.fr\/?p=23794<\/a> (below, one of the French architect’s projects)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But how can we restore a real balance between housing and cars in the city?<\/strong>
\u201cWe’re in a phase that I don’t like, where the public authorities totally reject the car. And so, to feed the inhabitants, we’re seeing convicts on bicycles delivering meals in city centers. This is not a good vision of the city of tomorrow. This vision of the \u201call-bike city\u201d is almost discriminatory. The result is a society that pits citizens against each other. What do we need to design to make it work? There are a thousand recipes for a city that is consistent with the automobile.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How can we want a city of the future without any form of automobile mobility, in the noble sense of the term?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet’s start by making induction parking mandatory in new building projects. Let’s connect buildings to each other, with a sort of central unit for capturing and redistributing energy, via the automobile. I’ve sketched out ideas for compact, autonomous vehicles whose roof shape allows them to collect rainwater when not in use. And let’s put a stop to visual pollution: self-service bikes emblazoned with logos, in totally filthy fluorescent colors, dumped haphazardly on the sidewalks, that’s not how I see the city of tomorrow\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The city of the future must welcome new forms of integrated mobility for the well-being of all. \u00a9-Design Renault.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A city with public transport that’s necessarily adapted too…<\/strong>
\u201cTake the buses: they’re ugly, aren’t they? In the 1950s, they were superbly designed, with large glass windows to take advantage of the architecture of the city. Today, we could imagine urban transport with robot cabs that integrate, that could capture energy with solar panels in their skin, and others that, what’s more, clean the streets with water captured during rainfall. We need to converge on this mindset to take the next step.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s return to the theme of ‘<\/strong>carchitecture<\/strong><\/em>‘: will it find its place more easily in the provinces than in the heart of the city?<\/strong>
\u201cHaving a garage where you can store one or two cars is already ‘carchitecture’.<\/em> Unfortunately, garages are often seen as large cellars. It’s where you park your car and put your lawnmower or garden hose. What’s more, it’s an enclosed space with no windows, and it’s right next to the house. But it’s there. And that’s starting to change, with car lovers treating their garage like a room in the house (below), with specific, aesthetic floors, and with the same love as they do a bedroom or living room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The car will arrive in the home by first integrating a new type of garage!<\/strong>
\u201cWhy is a garage a cold room, when it can become an aesthetic part of the home? Today’s production cars are much more attractive than those of the 70s and 80s! I talk to young designers who sometimes complain, but I can tell you that my generation went through a complicated period! We were working on a package for a big car with mini wheels, gigantic overhangs, stamping technologies that didn’t know how to stamp everything, and there were bulbs with headlight casings of crazy proportions! The designer had to make everyone dream, but with packages like these, it was a lost cause!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Milan-based advanced design studio GAC, headed by St\u00e9phane Janin, is working on dedicated mobility objects for urban travel (left: City Pod) and last-mile deliveries (right: City Box).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, an R5, a Polestar and others are real concept cars on wheels, with the right proportions. I may be taking refuge in utopia with my reflections, but the idea is nevertheless simple: to make beautiful objects integrated into the city (above), rather than a city that is afraid of intelligent automotive mobility. It’s important to be optimistic about the future!\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s where the architect comes in…<\/strong> There are and have been many who have tried their hand at the automobile!<\/strong>
\u201cYes, perhaps it’s because architects have a hidden fascination with the automobile. For the automobile is, in a way, a little mobile architecture. We’re all familiar with Le Corbusier’s work in the 1930s, when he took part in the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de Ing\u00e9nieurs de l’Automobile competition. There was also Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Renzo Piano (1937)… \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Project for a minimal car proposed by architect Le Corbusier in 1934, during the competition organized by the SIA. Document from the archives of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des Ing\u00e9nieurs Automobiles.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Zaha Hadid* has also tried her hand at car design (below), without much success…<\/strong>
\u201dArchitects aren’t often very good, except for Le Corbusier, of course. But as a general rule, they don’t always manage to appropriate the expression of movement, the romanticism behind the culture of the automobile. And their customers are not mass-market customers. It’s a bit like a designer only designing concept cars!\u201d
*Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) is a British-Iraqi architect and urban planner who remains one of the leading figures of the deconstructivist movement.<\/em> She also remains one of the profession’s most awarded architects.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition, the architect builds according to a site, integrating his project into a known environment, whereas the automobile is dynamic.<\/strong> It moves!<\/strong>
\u201cYes, but it’s also true that car designers who have been interested in architecture (Robert Opron, Gaston Juchet and others have designed their own houses<\/em> , NDA<\/em>) haven’t always succeeded. There’s always something wrong. If you submit my sketches to an architect, he’ll see what’s wrong, because you can’t improvise yourself as an architect! As car designers, we sometimes make furniture, but it’s often a little too stylized. It’s aesthetically pleasing, of course, but we lack an understanding of the world of furniture, its history and references to great designers. Understanding the world of design requires a lot of practice. Clearly, it’s hard to find someone who masters both fields.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ‘<\/strong>carchitecture<\/strong><\/em>‘ theme is probably more applicable in China, where space is infinite, than in Japan, where it’s restricted?<\/strong>
\u201cQuite the opposite! In Japan, the ‘carchitecture<\/em>‘ theme has long been integrated, particularly in Tokyo, where the culture of architecture means that every square centimetre is used intelligently, including for parking (St\u00e9phane Janin worked in Japan for Infiniti NDA<\/em>). In Japanese cities, the car is systematically integrated into the shape of the house, like Tetris! And even if it’s just a parking space, it’s generally a perfectly treated area, very much at one with the home. In this respect, the Japanese want to do things right; it’s almost joyful to see! Over there, you have the freedom to design your house and integrate your car as you wish, in terms of colors, plans, etc. And at the same time, the transport system in Japan is very different. At the same time, public transport, like the metro, is perfect. They are in total osmosis with the mobility of this largest megalopolis in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Japan’s \u201ckeijid\u014dsha\u201d – or Kei Cars – are small in size, allowing them to be integrated into or alongside housing. In Tokyo, users can also count on an efficient metro system.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What about China, which you know well since you now work for the automaker GAC?<\/strong>
\u201cIt’s more complicated in China, because cars are still considered a luxury product, especially in big cities like Shanghai. To buy a car there, you first have to pay a fee. If sales of electric cars are exploding, it’s because they are exempt from this right of access to automotive mobility. You could say that in China, we don’t speak of ‘carchitecture<\/em>‘ but of ‘car-urbanism’, because they merge all this together by imposing strict rules on the people. In fact, China is reducing its pollution, no doubt aggressively, but they’re making progress with this imposed culture of the long term that Europe seems to lack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TWO LIGNE\/auto BONUSES below<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BONUS 1: reread the interview with St\u00e9phane Janin, director of GAC’s advanced design studio in Milan.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The long interview : St\u00e9phane Janin, Director of Advanced Design Studio Europe at GAC (China)<\/a><\/blockquote>