LANTERN 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 framing, and to open up the space by removing the existing ceiling and simplify the plan. The large openable skylights direct sunlight into the middle of the house providing abundant light in the north facing kitchen. The roofline/open ceiling also allows for heat evacuation 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.