18 inspiring facades & garages from houses you'll love

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Those with a keen eye for good architecture and fine design know that a house's facade is more than mere front, and that a garage is more than a cupboard for your car. More often than not, a dwelling's outward-facing surfaces are going to exist in some relation to the garage or carport, given that vehicles need access to the street. The garage, therefore, is an integral part of your home's facade and, if you want the two elements to agree with each other on good looks and practicality, you need to consider both together when you set out to design either one or the other. 

This collection of inspirational and often stunning designs shows off garages and carports along with the cutting-edge architecture of the houses that they are a part of, garages that variously work in harmony or in contrast with a each build's overall look. You'll see attached garages – where the space is more or less embedded in the superstructure of the house – and detached garages – free-standing structures for sheltering your vehicles.

1. A sweeping modern classic.

The paradigm for a more stately home must include a sweeping driveway curving round to greet the home's imposing facade, with parking space set to one side for the Bentley, Benz, or indeed Prius hybrid. This elegant, modern house features a long and low-lying open garage structure – more precisely a carport seeing as it doesn't feature closing doors – that can accommodate at least three parked vehicles. Clever lighting design evocative of a cooling diesel sparkplug makes the structure glow with warm tones that echo the structure's wooden finish. 

2. Detached carport for a classic country home.

The traditional, classic facade of the house to the rear are best not messed with, but owning a Porsche requires need a modicum of protection from the elements. This stylish carport is all-modern in design, with a pair of V-shaped struts giving dynamism to a structural design that befits the cool luxury of the car it shelters. A second building on the property, in the foreground, is far more contemporary and in line with the look of the garage. 

3. An attached, slimline carport for a modern-minimal house.

This modern home features a street side carport plus a second parking space that's integrated in more ways than one. Park up under the carport – barely there thanks to a minimal steel frame that's in keeping with the simplicity of the facade as a whole –and you're in easy reach of the front door and spared the rain. The second, open-air parking lot features a pattern of spaced and embedded pavers to prevent skidding, protect the grass, and add texture to the house's built environment. 

4. Carport op-art for a modern bungalow.

Hotter, drier climates are less in need of protection from the rain, but it's not just water that can damage your car. Trapping your vehicle in a closed, poorly ventilated garage on a blisteringly hot day can wreak havoc on paintwork, crack interior materials like vinyl, and simply make the dashboard and steering wheel too hot to touch. This fantastic bungalow fits an embedded carport in a central, semi-enclosed space between its two wings, using a slatted roof design that allows air to circulate and works visual magic with filtered sunlight. 

5. An open, attached, drive-up garage for an eclectic dwelling.

A short paved ramp leads up to this open garage recessed beneath the house, pushing a practical volume of space into a facade that's buzzing with balconies, broad and arrow-slit windows, overhanging glass sills and a roof terrace. The garage is set back the same distance as the covered front door, and features a second entrance to the house that provides immediate access to your vehicle. 

6. Twinned garages under two storys.

This funky family home features two, twinned garages, connected to each other on the interior but each with its own roll-down door. Useful for households with a couple of cars, having two semi-independent garage spaces makes sense when you want to keep one vehicle – and the weather – in, while taking the other out for a spin. Note that the house is built on a sloping street – a professional concrete skirting leading down from the garages is essential to avoid any nasty under-car scrapes when entering and exiting. 

7. Snow problem?

No problem. The modular design of this house integrates the main dwelling with the garage with a lightning-bolt of fine-gauge, weatherboard cladding that runs across from the two-story living structure to form the roof of the garage, which while open to the street is attached enough to allow sheltered, all-weather access from the car to the core of the home

8. Detached twin garage in handsome wood & steel

The natural setting of this house is perfectly mirrored in the use of wood through the interior architecture of the home and indeed for elements of the facade. Yet the homeowners are not through-and-through throwback rustics. That they're fans of modern design and architecture can be seen in the discreet use of charcoal-colored metallic siding – and in this robust, detached double garage building with swing-up doors that houses their prized automobiles, combining finely joined wooden cladding and solid steel girders for a structure that's as unassuming as it is indestructible. 

9. A stone-clad country bunker

This open carport is thickly walled in concrete, with a roof of similar volume, and clad with stones of various sizes and colors. This has the effect of drawing the natural environment into the contemporary, modernist form of the imposing structure. To the right of the garage is another building of equal height, forming a long and narrow alley between the two for a dramatic open-air entrance way leading to the front door. 

10. Finely tuned & fully integrated concrete construction.

Raw concrete, beton brut, is a staple of modern minimalism in architecture. This house steers clear of conventional with a pitched roof that gestures towards more traditional home design even as the material used builds a design that is far from conventional. This prospect shows off the attached garage, set into the unadorned facade with a broad and equally simple skirt of poured concrete. There's room for a couple of cars – here we have a small side-parked city runabout, a motorcycle and a pair of bicycles hung from brackets – and understated lighting transforms the garage into an island of light. 

11. Ramp up.

One of the most stunning designs in this list, this garage – if it can be so named – features a dramatic ramp of flat cobbles leading up from ground level to a spacious parking area on the upper level of the luxurious home, the dwelling of an avid art collector – you can see various artworks lining the walls behind the broad glass garage doors. To the left of this masterpiece of architectural design is a flight of steps, also in stone, for pedestrian access to the upper levels. 

12. Lift off.

Thunder birds are go! This facade integrates a parking area that's as much spaceport as it is carport. The house takes its cues from atomic-age Californian modernism, with angled structural supports and curved corners offering up a futuristic image. Bright recessed spotlighting set in the ceiling of the carport lends a definite Space Odyssey gleam to the structure. A convenient airlock grants easy access between shuttle craft and biosphere. 

13. Dig down & uncover the foundations.

This sun-kissed villa features a great example of an underground garage, making the most of the space beneath the house. Careful, professional excavation has allowed the installation of a gently sloping ramp down to the arched portico of the garage. From there, a set of internal stairs lead up to the home. It's widely known that cellar space is much better at maintaining an even temperature than structures situated above ground, and this is as good for keeping your car in good condition as it is for keeping your wine. 

14. A chapel for your car.

A great example of modern Dutch domestic design, this compact home is typically modern but evokes ecclesiastical architecture in its sharply steep-led roof. Set below the simple white facade to the front of the house is a basement-level garage, whose dark wooden facade is slightly recessed and seamless with a ground-level segment of the dwelling adjacent to the front door. The path leading to the entrance is guarded from the fairly steep slope of the driveway by a simple steel railing. 

15. Cabin in the hood.

The roof of this Japanese home is similar to the Dutch design above, albeit clad in the same manner as the rest of the building's facade in black-stained wooden weatherboards, unusually angled to match the trapezoidal angles of the structure. Underneath a gently sloping section of roof jutting out from the main body of the house we find a deep double garage home to a utility truck and motorbike, testament to the homeowners' love of heading out from home to the highway. 

16. All work & no park?

We can't quite tell whether this guy is hard at work at one of his twin cinema screens or looking intently at the rear fender of his small city car. Either way, his house is characterized by curious, harmonious design. This attached garage is about as fully integrated as you can get, with the windows of an office or study located directly at the rear of the space. A broad window set along one side of the garage means our worker doesn't just have to inspect his tires – he can also gaze out on a gorgeous garden courtyard bordered by the raw-timbered walls of the home's exterior. 

17. Green your garage.

This humble single garage is in sway to the bucolic setting of the home as a whole. A climbing plant has been allowed to have its way with one side of the detached, free-standing structure while the roof has been planted with turf – a great piece of eco-design that can protect buildings if properly planned and installed. A lovely pastel green swing-out garage door is a considered color choice. 

18. Make the move to alternative fuels.

Don't own a car? We salute you for nevertheless checking out these inspirational home design ideas! That said, whether you're in search of a horse's stall rather than a carport, every home – or farm – necessitates a facade, so saddle up with more from homify.

Future Façade: Ten Colors & Textures To Make Your House Modern

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