For Gabriel Ramirez and his partner Sarah Mason Williams, following the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. The architects love Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, and they made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”
• The Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center is home to new gallery spaces, a multi-purpose classroom, the Garden gift store and the Vollum Library, a comprehensive resource on Japanese gardening and related arts.
The $33.5M expansion not only provides 3.4 acres of additional space to the 9.1 acre garden to accommodate its rapid visitor growth, but also—and most importantly—enhance its ability to immerse visitors in traditional Japanese arts and culture. It also provides space for educational programs and events, and a training center to teach the tenets of Japanese gardening in English.
Dentro is a series of minimal side tables created by Italy-based designer Marco Ripa. The design consists of three identical tables that can be nested within one another. The tables feature perforations on the surface that create transparency and an light and clean aesthetic. The tables are available in either white or black, and are finished with a powder coating.
Watson, who works from home when he’s not traveling, likes to use the back patio as his office during warmer months. In choosing patio furniture, he decided on a reversal of the interior color palette: A rectangular white metal table and chairs by Richard Schultz are durable but refined while contrasting with the cedar deck.
Designed in 1972 by local architect Edgar Waehrer, this home was renovated by creative director Ben Watson and his partner, painter Claudio Tschopp. As a later example of Northwest modernism, the home combined the clean lines and open plans of mid-century modernism with an emphasis on natural local materials and natural light. However, while the 16-foot ceilings in the home gave a sense of airiness, the plentiful wood paneling on the walls kept it dark and feeling damp, and so the couple bleached the walls to better reflect natural light.
Architect Ben Waechter wrapped the upper floor of Nick Oakley’s house in inexpensive black corrugated steel. By rounding the corners, Waechter avoided unsightly trim at the edges.
Architect Brian White clad the new second story of his formerly dark and cramped ranch-style home with a black-stained cedar rain screen. The large opaque window lights up the stairwell and the second floor.
After searching in vain for an empty lot to build on, architect Brian White settled for a nondescript 1960s ranch that nobody else wanted—and proved that building from the ground up doesn’t always start on the ground.