Why This Matters
A software engineer (a well-known figure in the Cloudflare Workers/Cap'n Proto world) and his entrepreneur spouse designed a custom Austin house purpose-built for LAN parties, complete with built-in gaming stations and hand-routed conduit. It's a reminder that PC gaming culture and in-person social computing still inspire real-world investment, even in an era of cloud gaming and online lobbies. The project also doubles as a rare, detailed public case study in home network and A/V infrastructure design.
Key Takeaways
- Kenton Varda and Jade Wang built a from-scratch Austin home optimized for LAN parties, completed in late 2023 after a 2019 land purchase and 2021 construction start.
- The design was a family and professional collaboration: architect Richard Varda (Kenton's father) led, with RSP Architects and Blue Horse Building & Design, while Kenton personally designed the game station cabinetry, conduit routing, and technical systems.
- It's a sequel to Kenton's viral 2011 LAN-party house in Palo Alto, showing sustained enthusiast demand for physical, local multiplayer spaces.
This is the hardware before it went into the machines.
Q&A
About Us
Whose house is this?
We are Kenton Varda and Jade Wang. We've been married since 2014. This is our house, where we live with our two kids, in Austin, Texas.
Kenton is a software engineer. He:
Jade is an entrepreneur. She:
Who designed and built it?
We bought the property as an empty lot and designed and built the house from scratch.
The lead architect was Richard Varda, Kenton's father. Rich is an accomplished architect who has designed everything from houses to skyscrapers. Among other things, he designed The Kingdom Centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. Rich was also VP of Architecture at Target for many years.
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