CANO HOUSE
Diego Cano-Lasso
ARCHITECTS
Diego Cano-Lasso
LEAD ARCHITECTS
Diego Cano-Lasso
DESIGN TEAM
Alejandro Cano
ENGINEERING & CONSULTING > STRUCTURAL
Jose Garcia
MANUFACTURERS
Andrew Riiska, Base Collaborative, Ceramiques Est, Entler Studio, Luz Mixtura
TECHNICAL TEAM
Belen Rodero
PHOTOGRAPHS
Iwan Baan
AREA
2250 ft²
YEAR
2025
LOCATION
Los Angeles, United States
CATEGORY
Residential Architecture, Houses
English description provided by the architects.
Perched above Los Angeles, Cano House reinterprets the iconic hillside homes of the mid-century era, where panoramic views become an integral part of the architectural experience.
Composed of a series of beams supported by slender posts, the house seems to hover effortlessly above the city below.
Cano House is a contemporary reinterpretation of mid-century post-and-beam architecture. The goal was to create a lightweight structure that cantilevers over the hillside and extends toward the city.
The result is a sequence of slender steel posts supporting 42-foot-long beams that appear to project beyond the house toward the horizon.
The enclosure consists of continuous glazing with pivot doors that frame and reflect different views of the city as they open and close.
The house is built into the hillside, requiring the excavation and removal of more than 50 truckloads of earth.
Its light structure and dramatic cantilever help blend the architecture into the landscape, minimizing its visual impact on the site.
The structural lightness of the house recalls a defining characteristic of mid-century architecture—an approach that, while once common, is rarely pursued in contemporary residential construction.
Covid pandemic stopped construction, and when resumed, the construction industry had dramatically changed: labor was scarce and material costs had increased. This forced creativity and self-building.
The side elevations are the only solid facades and are clad with zellige tile murals designed and built by Doctor Cato (Alejandro Cano).
Ceramic gutters imported from Spain were repurposed, with some sections transformed into custom lampshades.
Door handles were crafted from stones collected on the beaches of Southern California, while ceiling lamps were sourced from the Spanish lighting studio Luz Mixtura.
Boulders uncovered during excavation were brought into the house and repurposed as coffee tables, further connecting the architecture to its site.
Doctor Cato also designed and built numerous furniture pieces inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and R.M. Schindler.
