Some 125 entrants sent in their designs online. The Existing category winner is Holger Schubert, working with a Los Angeles garage, and in the Concept category, Chris Altman of Stubbs Muldrow Herin Architects of South Carolina took honors.
Maserati North America President and CEO Mark McNabb said the point of the competition is to "open a conversation with those who place a premium on design and expose them to the unique qualities of Maserati."
Schubert said his garage design was intended to be a destination experience for the person who parks there, a "pure and restrained minimalist environment" that lets the car be a "piece of art." By day, it "objectifies" the car; by night, its shapes are projected onto the window walls. The 1,200-square-foot garage is on the upper floor of a remodeled 1953 ranch home overlooking west Los Angeles, with a separate driveway bridge leading to it. Other than the Maserati, there's a couch, a slide-away TV, kitchen, bathroom and library in the garage, the designer's "minimalist" aims notwithstanding.
Chris Altman, the architect who designed the Concept Garage, created a long, low design with rough-cut limestone on the outside, a reflecting pool next to the garage to help with "passive cooling" and to add beauty, and rotating floor carriages so the driver doesn't have to back out.
Winning entries can be admired at the Design Driven Web site as well as in the pages of the October issue of Architectural Digest in a special advertising section.
Inside Line says: Good work! Apparently the prize was not a Maserati, though. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent
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