Residents of a new apartment block will be able to keep an eye on their car even when they're at home. The CarLoft, under development in Germany, is a spacious flat with a lift that raises the owner's vehicle on to the balcony - and bosses say this gives the same convenience and security as owning a house with a gated drive.

Owners simply pull up to the giant lift on the outside of the building, go to their floor and drive into the glass-walled CarLoggia on the balcony. The design is to spread into Europe, costing £310,000 per flat.

source : autoexpress.co.uk

 

sounds cool...anybody got pics?

 

good thing in the US we got this thing called garages

 

Link to images HERE

 

Wow, how over-protective of your car to you have to be in order to get this. 310k GBP is over $500k US. For that price you could buy 4 Quatroportes or 8 E-class sedans from the picture... Why spend so much money on something that costs several times the amount of the thing it supposedly "protects"? Put a hot tub on that balcony instead, and call it a day.

I predict this company will go out of business pretty fast.

Thanks for posting though - interesting to read.

 

thats really neat, I wonder why Urban Planners in the US don't do that, would cut down dramatically on over crowded downtown parking problems. Not to mention people have secure cars = lower insurance. I think its an excellent IDEA.

In Tokyo they have similar systems for public parking.

 

talk about a conversational piece when guests come over

 

OK-
I'm looking at the diagram. This appears to be a high rise parking garage that uses an elevator instead of ramps - not exactly unique.

Diagram shows carlift on the right - hope there are enough for rush hour in the morning!
Next over is the parking garage, presumably with a space on your floor.
Next appears to be a common area or garden
Then the bulk of the area, which are the apartments.

I'm not sure how this matches up with the pictures, as the cars do not appear to go along the outside windows of the buildings. (Not sure I'd want the cars driving six inches from my bedroom, anyway).

 

I LOVE that idea

 

That cost is per flat, not per garage.

 

Well, how many cars are you planning to park on your balcony??? It is an outrageous price regardless.

This is basically different from a normal garage in two ways:
1) There is a window from your house to your parking place. This is not done now because the garage is not usually a place you would want to see from your living room. I don't see how this is such a fantastic innovation. Your car is just going to get your balcony dirty. People on lower floors will complain if you try to wash your car and water spills down to lower levels. And, I bet you will have to wait for the elevator during peak commuter times. Just leave the car on the ground where it belongs.
2) Using an elevator instead of a ramp to move cars. Plenty of garages already do this. No big deal. It is just a more expensive, less energy-efficient, and possibly slightly more space-saving way of moving cars up and down.

I guess the only real advantage is showing off your car to people when they are in your living room. Just take a picture of your car and frame it.

 

You will pay half a milion n for a nice view of downtown nyc or a killer pad in L.A. At least!!!!
The price doesn't seem too crazy.

 

i dont think half a million will get you a nice view in NYC... a million upwards sounds more like it.

 

Thats nice, I mean you take a walk threw my garage Its like a garbage dump. LOL!

More Classy than a garage.

 

That's a pretty neat idea... and pretty damn cheap too (depending on the flat square footage). $550K is a bargin if you really want to boil it down!