Lantern House / Syndicate Smith

Architects: Syndicate Smith
Area: 4,106 ft²
Year: 2026
Photography: Will Austin
Lead Architect: Todd Smith, Principal Architect
Architectural Design Team: Brian Hackworth, Laurel Podlich
Interior Designer: Hannah Hering
Contractor: Phil Stuen, Dephiance Design-Build
Structural Engineer: BTL Engineering
Location: Case Inlet, Washington
Country: United States

Lantern House by Syndicate Smith establishes a contemporary waterfront retreat on a small island along Washington’s Case Inlet, where Joe and Kristie Berg have maintained a family connection for more than a decade. Rather than replace their original 1950s Pan-Abode cabin, the couple relocated the 600-square-foot structure to a neighboring lot, preserving it as a guesthouse while creating space for a new residence on the waterfront property. The new home follows the footprint of the former cabin while establishing a stronger relationship between interior spaces, outdoor living, and the surrounding landscape. Its elevated construction responds to periodic King Tides, allowing water to pass beneath the structure, while a carefully composed entry sequence uses suspended lanterns and perforated steel to establish a luminous threshold. Inside, warm woods, textured finishes, skylights, and framed openings connect the rooms to Puget Sound. Together, the two structures form a retreat that carries the physical memory of the family’s earlier years while providing a contemporary setting for future generations.

Lantern House is shaped by an architectural decision to preserve rather than erase the past. Kristie Berg first encountered the island as a teenager through a friend’s family cabin, and years later she and her husband, Joe, acquired the neighboring property when it became available. Their original 600-square-foot Pan-Abode cabin subsequently became the setting for 13 years of family life, including time spent with their two daughters. Rather than remodel the structure and potentially compromise its accumulated character, the Bergs chose to move it across the street, where it now serves as a guesthouse. Its cedar walls retain physical traces of the family’s history, including the daughters’ names carved into the material during their childhood.

The new waterfront residence emerged from this separation between memory and renewal. Syndicate Smith, a Leavenworth, Washington-based architecture and interior design studio, was selected after the Bergs encountered one of the firm’s projects in Leavenworth, a place where the family also spends the holidays. Working closely with Kristie, the architects developed a house influenced by Pacific Northwest modernism and a restrained wabi-sabi sensibility. The design maintains the footprint of the former cabin and positions the new structure close to the shoreline, preserving the direct relationship with Puget Sound while introducing a more generous framework for family life, entertaining, and outdoor activity.

The waterfront setting also informed the house’s physical construction. Case Inlet experiences exceptionally high King Tides several times a year, resulting from the gravitational relationship between the sun, moon, and Earth. Rather than establishing an impermeable edge at the shoreline, the house is raised slightly above a porous foundation that allows water to move beneath it. This approach responds to the realities of the site while maintaining the residence’s close connection to the water. Expansive decks and terraces extend the interior toward the Sound, while a covered fireplace creates a sheltered outdoor gathering space. Storage for bicycles, paddleboards, and yard games is integrated into the planning, supporting the family’s active use of the island without disrupting the primary living areas.

Light provides another organizing principle, most visibly expressed at the entrance. Framed by the island’s oldest redwood tree, the approach leads into a double-height threshold where suspended lanterns form a constellation-like installation. A perforated steel scrim filters their glow, allowing illumination to extend beyond the entry and establish a visual connection with the exterior after dark. The vertical quality of the entrance is echoed within the house through a window skylight that brings daylight into the center of the plan. Elsewhere, carefully positioned openings frame views of Puget Sound, while warm wood, textured surfaces, and controlled natural light give the interiors a tactile relationship with the landscape. Each bedroom opens toward the outdoors, reinforcing the house’s orientation to the surrounding environment.

Lantern House ultimately operates alongside the relocated cabin as part of a larger architectural narrative about continuity and change. The guesthouse remains a tangible record of the Berg family’s first years on the island, while the new residence establishes a setting for another phase of family life. Its material palette, outdoor spaces, elevated construction, and carefully composed relationship with light allow the architecture to respond to both the physical conditions of Case Inlet and the history of the site. Rather than treating the original cabin and new house as competing expressions, the project allows them to occupy complementary roles, with one preserving memory and the other providing a framework for future gatherings, celebrations, and everyday life by the water.