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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Garage doors in the front are efficient use of space and easiest to drive in and out from requiring the least amount of space and turns. They are logical but not always aesthetically pleasing. I am an engineer[/quote]

As a student of urban planning, I disagree with this view point because this comment about "efficiency" is devoid of the human and social context of homes. When garages, rather than welcoming front porches, assume the largest focal point of the front of the home, the emphasis is upon the car-dependent commute, and not upon the human interaction of homes on a street. (Historically, garages were only placed in the front of the home when suburbs exploded in the US in the 50s and 60s.) In older neighborhoods, garages were placed behind the home with the garage door facing an alley. Trash cans were picked up by garbage trucks in the back alley. Front facades of homes often had generous, sometimes covered, porches with seating areas and sidewalks to encourage interaction with neighbors.

Besides, talking about space efficiency is ridiculous when people believe that a family of 4 "needs" a home larger than 2000 sq ft. [/quote]

The problem I have is that at least in this area, if the garage doors are not on the front of the house, they are on the side.  And they do not do this for the reasons you list above.  They do this to make the house appear larger because they end up putting windowls along the garage side, which makes people think it's more house when it's actually just the garage.  They are not replacing the front garage doors with a porch for everyone to hang out on.  If anything, it encourages even LESS interaction with the neighbors because now instead of dad and the kids mucking around in the garage, playing basketball, riding bikes on the driveway in the front of the house, they are not on the side of the house, invisible to the neighbors.  Unless the house has a front porch, no one is hanging out at the front of the house.  In fact, with the side-load garage, the front door barely gets used at all by anyone.

What you describe is a return to the old neighborhoods built on grids where the garage is detached and in the back of the home and you enter via the alley.  I have seen some new planned communities in other areas of the country that are going back to that in the suburbs, but on the whole, at least in this area, when garages are not facing the street, they are side-load and make the suburban existence that much more isolating.

Plus, I can't tell you how many homes I've seen with side-load garage stuffed on thin lots where the cars have to do a sharp 90 degree turn to get into the garage.  Because of this, I never see those cars in the garage.  They just keep them in the driveway because of how hard it is to make those turns to get in and out.[/quote]

Several of you have problems, but garage placements only appear to scratch the surface.[/quote]

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