Original details are peppered throughout the interiors, including the wood-paneled ceilings and brick fireplace in the main living area.
The east-facing kitchen is the brightest room in the house. A Louis Poulsen lamp sits at one end of the table, which doubles as the couple’s desk. There are no drawers or cabinets, just sliding panels to hide things. “I didn’t want cabinets because, then, what are the hinges? What are the knobs?” David explains. “I wanted to make fewer decisions. It’s about the experience of the space and not the hardware.”
“It has a public and private feel, which we like.” A French blue table designed by David adds color to the dining area. “It was important to us to have unexpected and whimsical elements in the house,” says Mark. “We didn’t want it to be too serious.”
The below-grade kitchen/dining room opens to a sunken wood porch. Sliding glass doors and an operable awning window from Fleetwood provide natural cross ventilation for cooling. The site is located in a forested area but is “brighter and less sequestered than you’d expect,” says David, thanks to the surrounding Sea Ranch commons.
In the bedroom, the home’s allover fir lining extends to the base of the platform bed, which has matching linens for a highly monochromatic effect. Daylight streams through a skylight and ground-level window.
A Stûv wood-burning stove in the living room provides heat for the net-zero home. (Solar panels supply electricity.) Four equal-size rooms are separated by barn doors that allow for a circular flow through the house when left open. “Our dogs love it,” says David. A recent painting by Mark hangs on the door between the living room and bedroom but might soon be swapped out. “The idea is that I can make a piece in the studio, put it up and live with it for a while, and then change it for something new,” says Mark.
Sheathed in black asphalt shingles, the Sea Ranch home created by architect David Ross and artist Mark Dutcher exemplifies values espoused by the 60-year-old community: modesty, aesthetics, simplicity, and respect for the natural environment.
Sean and My turned one bay of their three-car garage into a recording studio; the pine shiplap nods to Swedish saunas.
The carriage doors open to a side yard with a fire pit where Adam and Amanda like to entertain friends and family, while also enjoying their lush property. "The sliding doors were the biggest ticket item, but really worth the money,
Tile by Zia Tile runs along a wall of the upstairs bathroom. The cabinets are by Cabinets quick, and the floor tile is by Concrete Collaborative.
The downstairs powder room features a vessel sink by Nantucket Sinks and a counter topped with OUTERclé's "Dolce Vita Terrazza
&Tradition's Verner Panton's "Flowerpot
Emily and Jason Potter of DEN Los Angeles furnished the living area with Paul Laszlo's cane bench for Glenn of California, a Frank Lloyd Wright marble-topped “Taliesin” coffee table for Heritage Henredon and an Alvar Aalto lounge chair for Artek.
Warwas created what he calls "a foyer moment
Clad on two sides by an ipe rainscreen, the new ADU is connected to the house by a deck. To further ensure an easy flow between the two buildings, designer Ben Warwas set the slider by Western Window Systems at a diagonal beneath the overhang created by the second floor.
Ben Warwas set a slider by Western Window Systems at a diagonal beneath the overhang created by the second floor.
The interior side of the pivot door is outfitted with pale plywood that joins with the plywood walls.
“I’ve been really surprised at how well-designed space can positively make you feel,” Wayne says. “My productivity levels have shot through the roof.”
“For me, architecture is pragmatic yet joyful,” Andrew says. “The entrance cut away allows for a deep cantilevering overhang that gives shelter when it's raining, and the 1400mm-wide pivot door is pure theatrics.”
“The scorched larch timber protects against water and is a beautiful, sustainable process that avoids harsh chemicals and paints,” Andrew says.
The suburban backyard garage in Hertfordshire, England, that architect Olli Andrew of Hyper converted into a work studio is wrapped in charred larch wood pieces that give the impression of scales and foster biodiversity, providing a place for insects to nestle.
Warwas offset the rear of the ADU to accommodate the power lines running behind the house, and he designed a window in the office/guest room upstairs that meets the roof in the same way that the window off the dining area/kitchen meets the ground.
“It needed to be a sleeping niche that could become very dark,” says Pulcrano of the bedroom. A porthole window offers light when desired, and curtains encircle two sides for when it’s time to create total darkness.
A semi-finished daylight basement is now an independent suite that can flex in use. Master Furniture Makers fabricated the custom-designed cabinetry, curved built-in seating, and wall treatment. Caesarstone ‘Fresh Concrete’ covers the kitchenette counters.
Boy Boy fabricated the framing for the flue shroud and base, which was then finished with plaster, and given a limestone benchtop. The Arto Ceramic tile extends into the kitchen, which has a preserved wood ceiling with new skylights.
Resembling a beach bungalow, the green-painted house sits on a spacious, tree-filled lot.
Original details can be found throughout, including the red brick fireplace in the living room.
Large skylights line the wood-beamed ceiling capping the main living room and kitchen.
Nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, the one-level residence sits just two miles from the Topanga Town Center, while also being close to the numerous hiking trails and beaches.
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