With a love for the native architecture of the Hawaiian Islands, the clients approached Laidlaw Schultz Architects with a desire to design a home that, while still part of the neighborhood, had the relaxed feel of an old Hawaiian Lanai home. In short, they wanted to capture the feeling of a comfortable vacation every day.With sand and waves just feet away, the home’s location — on a sandy beach in California — provided a plausible beginning to the vacation criteria. And while the clients’ program was beyond the typical one-story lanai home, this casual feeling was still captured in the residence’s design.
Externally, the home relies on deep overhangs, an emphasis on natural materials (both wood and lava), and a manipulation of scale to capture the casual feeling of these early Hawaiian homes. A strong lava base serves as the foundation for the project, with louvered and decked spaces rising off the natural pedestal, creating both indoor and outdoor rooms. A rising fireplace of lava anchors the project, and a dense landscape further blurs the line between the realities of home and the calming feeling of being away.
