AbstractProblems related to projections on closed convex cones are frequently encountered in optimization theory and related fields. To study these problems, various unifying ideas have been introduced, including asymmetric vector-valued norms and certain generalized lattice-like operations. We propose a new perspective on these studies by describing how the problem of cone projection can be formulated using an order-theoretic formalism developed in this paper. The underlying mathematical structure is a partially ordered vector space that generalizes the notion of a vector lattice by using two partial orderings and having certain lattice-type properties with respect to these orderings. In this note we introduce a generalization of these so-called mixed lattice spaces, and we show how such structures arise quite naturally in some of the applications mentioned above.