No matter the season, Lake Tahoe beckons visitors with stunning alpine scenery and a near-endless array of outdoor activities, from hiking, biking and skiing to boating and swimming. Eager to enjoy the lake year-round at their second home, a couple with grown children envisioned adding an entertaining cabana to the property. The challenge was finding a place to build it.
Architect Kevin Casey, principal at Backen & Backen, found just the right spot: a sliver of land tucked between the road, a grove of aspens and pines, and the lake. The couple’s home is located across the street from the cabana.
“Initially, we were looking at the other side of the road, because we didn’t think we could build between the road and the lake,” says Casey, who worked with a team on the project that included local builder Gardner Enterprises and landscape architect Barry Beer Design. “Then we found a very small area between the lake, environmental setbacks and the road setback. It’s a tiny parcel, and the cabana basically fills the whole buildable area.”
The homeowners shared several priorities with Casey when it came to the cabana’s design: It needed to accommodate both intimate get-togethers and larger gatherings, function comfortably year-round, and blend seamlessly into the natural landscape.
The resulting single-story structure is built on an approximately 900-square-foot footprint, nestled into the lake’s sloping shoreline a few steps down from the road. The exterior is clad in reclaimed barnwood siding, lending a rustic sensibility, while the steel-frame doors and windows, cantilever trellis and corner wall of pocketing glass doors introduce a clean, contemporary counterpoint. “I wanted the cabana to feel like it’s in the Sierra Nevadas next to Lake Tahoe, without being too precious, while at the same time incorporating details that create a jewel box feeling,” Casey says.
Increasing the usable space for socializing, a slatted-wood exterior staircase with a glass guardrail leads to an expansive ipe wood roof deck, also surrounded by a glass guardrail. “The glass guardrail on the roof deck helps lower the profile of the building, so it doesn’t feel like there’s another barrier up there if you’re looking across the road toward the lake,” Casey explains.
The 640-foot interior space encompasses a dining and lounge area and a powder room. A wall of custom cabinetry, including steel cabinetry designed by Schnitzkräft, conceals under-counter refrigerators and wine storage, as well as a TV that rises on a lift. Lighting was designed by Bradley Bouch.
During colder months, radiant heat gently warms the stone floors. In the warmer months, when the glass doors are open, the structure serves as a sheltered outdoor living room. Roll-down insect screens transform the space yet again into a screened porch, and roll-down shades provide respite from the hot summer sun, as well as privacy. All are motorized, enabling customized climate control at the touch of a button.
Says Casey, “It really is a very flexible space, and the homeowners are excited to have this special place to spend time right on the lake.”
Lotus Abrams has covered everything from beauty to business to tech in her editorial career, but it might be writing about her native Bay Area that inspires her most. She lives with her husband and two daughters in the San Francisco Peninsula, where they enjoy spending time outdoors at the area’s many open spaces protected and preserved by her favorite local nonprofit, the Peninsula Open Space Trust.
