Concrete

Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute (top left) is a stunning building that looks directly out to the sea. Architectural tourists flock to the site, which still functions as a working laboratory.

The whitewashed interior uses a limited palette of finished surface materials.

Reuter Raeber Architects

Yumi (left) and Maya (right) cheese around on the steps leading into the front door. Inside, there is ample space for removing and leaving one's shoes, another Japanese element.

A stepped concrete garden planted with herbs and flowers marks the descent to the house. The courtyard is the focal point of the U-shaped structure; there is clear visibility between the kitchen on one side and the children's bedrooms on the other.

In Tokyo, Japan, where the houses are crammed cheek by jowl, two old friends from architecture school have created a 793-square-foot home out of canted concrete boxes. The resident works from an Alvar Aalto table in the living and dining area, adjacent to the small kitchen against one wall. He saved on some elements, such as the plywood cabinetry, and splurged on others, such as the Finn Juhl chairs and Vilhelm Lauritzen lamp. Photo by Iwan Baan.

At Sea Ranch, a half-century-old enclave of rugged modernist houses on the Northern California coast, a new home captures the spirit of its surroundings. The client, a couple, were guided by the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. Lovers of Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, the architects 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." Together, the Cor-Ten steel and board-form concrete give the exterior a weathered look.

Two hiking trails lead to the Lunder Center at Stone Hill which was designed by Tadao Ando in 2008. Image courtesy of the Clark Art Institute.

Perforated concrete blocks in the guest bathroom provide ventilation and discreet views of the patio.