Car and architecture interactions: Carchitecture

Zuzana Tóthová

SUMMARY

As the automobile evolved in tandem with the modern architecture, it brought about myths, legends and new building types. However, has the car also responded to architecture? The car has significantly shaped the modern architectural vision, but was this a two-way relationship? Perhaps the most considerable contact between the built and mechanical environments was the golden age of streamlining in the 1930s. The car was arguably the most dominant force for architectural change in the twentieth century, dictating the shape and the size of our cities and the way we experience them. The result – “carchitecture” – is all around us. But haven’t we gone too far? The number of car owners continues to rise, but on the other hand the anti-car movement is growing, too. The automobile stands accused of destroying the community, environment, public space, health and perhaps even architecture itself.

Keywords: car, public transport, Le Corbusier, architecture, carchitecture, transport, city