Ideas Factory/ the foundry

29 on the go · 3 materials
nothing here is finished

The car building on an overcast autumn day, from the gravel apron. A long, low wall of coursed pale limestone is set into a grassy mound of meadow planting, with autumn trees behind. In the wall are a wide dark steel vehicle door and, to its right, a narrow dark steel person door, with a small black wall light either side of the pair. Gravel sweeps across the foreground between curved lawn edges. Close to the drawings. Off brief: the person door into the lobby by the viewing lounge should be on the lounge side, to the left of the vehicle door, not the right.

← the floorWoods End/buildings·if / 072

Car building

960 m² buried in the hill: a hall for 20 cars on a racing green floor, a workshop and detailing bay, a vehicle airlock, and a lounge that looks only into the hall.

The card

buildings 04 of 05

Car building

buildings 04 of 05idea_072

The notes

rendered

The car building is 960 m²: a 576 m² hall and 384 m² of workshop, store and lounge. It is reached by the left fork of the drive, at no steeper than 1 in 15, and has a 30 m turning circle in front so that a 16.5 m articulated transporter can turn and unload on the apron.

buried concrete box

Reinforced concrete walls and roof, waterproofed to the standard used for basements, with earth and planting over the top. Only the front face shows. It stays close to an even temperature all year, which is good for the cars.

airlock entry

Cars come in through a double-door airlock: the outer door closes before the inner one opens, so nobody follows a car in. This is the one route in for vehicles.

The exposed 40 m front face is limestone, like the boundary walls, with only the dark steel vehicle door and a steel person door beside it into a small lobby by the lounge.

the hall

Twenty bays at 3.2 m in two rows of ten, facing each other across a 7 m aisle. A racing green resin floor throughout, with each bay picked out in a thin cream line, and chemical-resistant resin in the workshop and detailing bay. Warm off-white walls so the cars read against them, and a near-black ceiling where the services disappear.

Long linear lights over the aisle give even working light, with a dimmable spotlight over every bay for display. Humidity is held at about 50% to protect paint, leather and electrics.

lounge into the hall

The viewing lounge has no outside windows. It looks only through a glass wall into the car hall, lit low like a gallery. It is a club room with leather club chairs, a small dark oak bar and low warm light. Sit with a coffee and look at the collection.

working end

The lift bay needs about 4.5 m clear, so the workshop end has a raised roof under the earth. The detailing bay has bright, even lighting and a drained floor.

rooms

Space Area
Car hall, 20 bays at 3.2 m, 7 m aisle 576 m²
Workshop, 2-post lift, 4.5 m clear 72 m²
Detailing bay 72 m²
Viewing lounge 72 m²
Secure vehicle airlock 36 m²
Parts and tool store 84 m²
WC, kitchenette and plant 48 m²
Car building 960 m²

The drawings

1 sheet
Car building plan, sheet A-201 rev AB, scale bar in metres, with the exposed front face at the bottom and an earth bank and planted roof over the rest. The car hall has 20 bays at 3.2 m in two rows of ten facing a 7 m central aisle, 576 m². To the right are the workshop with a 2-post lift and 4.5 m clear, 72 m², and the detailing bay, 72 m². Along the front face, from left to right, are the viewing lounge, 72 m², which looks into the hall only, the secure vehicle airlock, 36 m², the parts and tool store, 84 m², and the WC, kitchenette and plant, 48 m². An arrow marks the way in from the road from the house.
01 · Car building plan

The plates

2 · lift any one out
The car building on an overcast autumn day, from the gravel apron. A long, low wall of coursed pale limestone is set into a grassy mound of meadow planting, with autumn trees behind. In the wall are a wide dark steel vehicle door and, to its right, a narrow dark steel person door, with a small black wall light either side of the pair. Gravel sweeps across the foreground between curved lawn edges. Close to the drawings. Off brief: the person door into the lobby by the viewing lounge should be on the lounge side, to the left of the vehicle door, not the right.
01 · The car building on an overcast autumn day
The car hall from the viewing lounge, at night. In the foreground two cognac leather club chairs and a low dark oak coffee table with a book and a bowl stand on a rug and dark oak boards, with dark timber panelling and a domed lamp on the left. A full-height glass wall with slim black mullions looks into the hall, which has a racing green resin floor with each bay picked out in thin cream lines, warm off-white walls, a near-black ceiling, long linear lights and spotlights. About ten classic sports and GT cars in yellow, green, blue, red, silver, black and white are parked nose-in along the back wall, with a red one close to the glass on the right. Close to the drawings. Off brief: the drawings have two rows of ten bays facing each other across a 7 m aisle, with the near row right behind the lounge glass. Here the cars are lined up along the back wall and the near row is almost empty. The small dark oak bar in the lounge is not shown.
02 · The car hall from the viewing lounge