Sea Ranch Condos

When our clients approached us with the opportunity to shape the next chapter of their adjacent Sea Ranch units, it felt like both a gift and a philosophical homecoming. Perched on a rocky outcropping along one of Northern California’s most dramatic stretches of coastline, the building's jagged redwood forms offer a structurally expressive, vernacular alternative to the international style that dominated 1960s architecture. Sea Ranch has long served as a touchstone for our work — design rooted so deeply in place that it approaches the spiritual.

Conceived as fraternal twins, the two units had diverged over time. One remained largely untouched, its unvarnished wood aged by decades of sun and sea air; the other bore the marks of a misguided 1990s renovation. Together with the clients, we pursued a research-based approach to remediate what had been lost while creating a coastal retreat that supports connection to family and the surrounding landscape.

The work became an exercise in architectural forensics, drawing from UC Berkeley archives and repeated visits to Charles Moore’s ‘Condominium One’ to reverse engineer period-appropriate details. The new plan left the units functionally independent, with their own kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms; linked only by catwalk and barn door. We introduced color to clarify the interior architectural forms, with custom paints matched from landscape designer, Lawrence Halprin’s original masterplan drawings. Furnishings are sparse, with a heavy focus on built-ins. Period-correct Eames lounge chairs and a Hans Wegner dining set make the spaces functional while allowing the architecture to pull focus. Adam Pogue’s patchwork pendants, ottomans, and bedcovers serve as a logical successor to the experimental graphics and patterns that adorn Moore’s unit.

Grounded in the Sea Ranch founding philosophy and upgraded (at times invisibly) for contemporary living, the project offers a roadmap for how this iconic community can adapt for a new generation.