xLANTERN HOUSE
Venice, CA
1175 SF Single-Family Home
380 SF New ADU (300 SF Existing Garage + 80 SF New)
The Lantern House is a transformation of a dark 1950’s home into a light-filled, loft-style home with lots of natural wood surfaces. One of the main goals was to preserve the existing old-growth Doug fir roof, by removing the existing ceiling and building a new roof over. The new tower inserts direct sunlight into the middle of the house providing abundant light in the north facing kitchen. The tower also acts as a heat – evacuation tower and combined with the open floor plan, serves as a passive way to naturally cool the building. Additionally an existing garage was converted to an Accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to create financial flexibility for aging-on-site. The Lantern House and ADU have a large covered deck used to knit the two structures together, and provide a harmonious indoor and outdoor area. Other environmental features include rainwater harvesting system where the runoff is collected by three cisterns, photovoltaic panels and permeable surfaces.