AUTOHAUS
Project Details:
Architect: Matt Fajkus Architecture
Location: Austin, TX | Completed 2017
Photography: Charles Davis Smith & Casey Woods
AUTOHAUS rethinks the relationship between living space and garage. A compact home floats above a double-height workshop, blurring the lines between living, working, and gathering. A space built equally for those who call it home and the vintage cars they live with.
AUTOHAUS doesn’t hide what it is. From the outset, it declares a life organized around cars, craft, and shared purpose. Designed by Matt Fajkus Architecture for a pair of former race car drivers, the Austin-based home collapses the usual boundaries between living space and workshop, turning the garage into the architectural and social core of the project.
For the owners, cars are central to daily life, to identity, and to a broader mission of teaching automotive restoration skills to disadvantaged youth. AUTOHAUS was conceived to support that blend. It is a home that can flex between domestic retreat, collaborative workspace, and gathering place, without privileging one over the other.
The structure is organized to clearly connect home and garage. Living spaces rest above an open garage, keeping cars, work, and daily life visually connected. The upper level reaches forward, opening the garage vertically at the rear while forming a sheltered carport beneath the bedroom at the front. Here, the vintage car collection is not tucked away or treated as secondary, but openly displayed and actively used as part of everyday life.
Material and structural choices support that clarity of purpose. Lightweight insulated concrete composite blocks form a durable, tightly sealed structure, resulting in a garage with clean air and a stable interior environment. It’s a space designed not merely for cars, but for time spent working, teaching, and gathering.
The project’s detailing reflects a deep collaboration between architect and builder. Custom steel doors and windows were designed and fabricated on site with Risinger & Co, allowing for precise control over proportion, finish, and performance. The process mirrors the ethos of automotive restoration itself: hands-on, iterative, and exacting. The level of craftsmanship is intentional, calibrated to match the vehicles the space shelters.
Despite its industrial underpinnings, AUTOHAUS is deeply connected to its surroundings. Fresh air, dynamic daylight, and views into the tree canopy soften the structure’s rigor, supporting both comfort and mental well-being. Indoor-outdoor connections increase the usability of the spaces and allow the home to shift easily between work mode and rest.
Flexibility was designed into the project from the beginning. A future one-bedroom residence can be seamlessly integrated within the garage , allowing the house to adapt as the owners age and their needs evolve. AUTOHAUS is not fixed to a single moment or use; it is built to outlast its initial configuration.
At its core, AUTOHAUS is an argument for architecture that reflects how people actually live. It’s a home where machines and humans coexist without hierarchy, and where the garage is not an accessory, but the heart of the architecture itself.
