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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.”

Top 9 Gardens of 2020: The verdant spaces nominated for the Dwell Design Awards help enliven their biophilic homes.

An oak beam spans the room, and a custom fireplace was created by Noor El-Mohandes.

The house is essentially an upscale surf shack. The design outdoors facilitates easy showering, clean up, and board storage.

Reilly reconfigured the layout turning the two-bedroom with one bath into a three-bedroom with two baths. The entire interior is clad in cedar planks. “I was very committed to cladding throughout despite the cost,” the architectural designer says. “I’d rather have none than just do one wall.”

In the living room, a Stûv fireplace sits near Lori’s favorite place to paint. “We made the southeast corner glass, because that’s where the best view is,” says BCJ principal Ray Calabro.

Cabinetry maker Forest Designs used birch plywood to craft the U-shaped kitchen island, which is topped with quartz from Floform. The Ziro floor tiles in Gris are from Navarti and the contemporary metal edge pulls are from Richelieu. The appliances are from Whirlpool.

Perched below the Griffith Observatory and overlooking Hollywood is a lush lot crowned with four towering olive trees and a 1965 home designed by modernist architect Craig Ellwood. When a young couple purchased the home in 2018, it needed substantial work. For a historic restoration, they called on Woods + Dangaran, a local firm fluent in modernist history. The team completed a meticulous restoration of the home while keeping original components like the linear shape, open plan, and expansive windows. One of the most striking features is the original koi pond (a feature deemed so essential that its preservation was a condition of escrow) that is now crossed via a bridge that leads to a new lap pool—perhaps the biggest intervention on the property.

Pale hardwood floors complement pared-back wall tones in mushroom and off-white.

Exposing structural materials as finish materials created valuable cost savings. The structural concrete floors and exposed second floor framing strengthen the overall aesthetic, while eliminating the need for drywall or additional flooring.

There are XX different prefabricated home models available at Benloch Ranch—each described as "mountain Modern"—or the opportunity to custom design a home. The most spacious model is The Icon, is a 2,650-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom family home that is available in both gable roof and wedged roof variations.

The white walls, concrete floors, and wood detailing are a neutral combination that will age well. “The clients wanted something timeless,” says Handa.

“It was great to work from the plans of someone who was a part of the history of architecture,” says Drapszo.

The exterior was sealed through shou sugi ban, an environmentally friendly fireproofing practice common in Japanese architecture. The black exterior seems to disappear into the evergreens from one angle, and pops against the white snow from another.

Although the home resembles a modernist barn, there are no beams within the structure. Rather, external timber trusses support the building.

Lambert & Fils lights are suspended over the island.