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A lanai or lānai is a type of roofed, open-sided veranda, patio or porch originating in Hawaii. Many homes, apartment buildings, hotels and restaurants in Hawaii are built with one or more lānais.
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Examples
One example of Hawaiian architecture featuring a lānai is the Albert Spencer Wilcox Beach House on the Island of Kauai. The residence of Queen Liliʻuokalani, Washington Place in Honolulu, was constructed with "open lānais" on all sides.
Architectural feature
The use of the lānai is one of the "Hawaiian modern" features in the style of some of the buildings of Vladimir Ossipoff, who saw in the lanai functional similarities to the Japanese engawa. A lanai may also be a covered exterior passageway. Disney animator Dorse Lanpher (1935–2011) notes in his memoirs the large covered lanais on the ocean side of his Honolulu hospital. Today, air-conditioned buildings such as hotels often offer "enclosed" rather than "open" lanais, sometimes meaning a large dining hall with a 'wall' of sliding glass doors.