Burnt Cedar

Lake Tahoe, California

This is a full-time beach house for a car passionate family of four situated across from the shore of Lake Tahoe. During the silver mining years of the 1860s, logs were staged here as the mountains around the lake shore were logged, prior to being pulled up the hill to flumes and rails destined for Virginia City.

Set into a neighborhood originally built in the 1950s and bordered by houses to the sides and rear, the house takes a simple box form, half buried into the slope. It faces the lake with full height glazing that encloses a loft-like plan with double height living spaces. The clients requested a space that felt like the landscape and maintained a feeling inside of being outside in the light and shadow play of the sixty to ninety-foot Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines that populate the lake shore.

Vertical, full height slit-like openings located to the sides and rear of the house maintain privacy yet allow morning light to penetrate the form and act as reverse sundials that track the sun’s path throughout the day. Light from the glazed slivers land on polished, darkened concrete floors that emulate the water’s surface in the distance and draw the Lake into the big room. The light on the reflective floor allows the same sensation one gets from floating on the water.

A folding glass window completely opens the kitchen to an outside bar and covered cooking terrace.

Acoustically absorbent plaster covers the eastern wall of the big space. Coupled with perforated maple plywood panels backed with acoustical insulation, these materials soften the environment and respond to the clients’ stated desire for a quiet atmosphere, despite the two-story glass and concrete material pallette.

An underground garage is excavated under the house with level access to the street, a must in this snowy climate for a family with an eclectic car collection.