Homes that Make Great Use of Concrete

A concrete-block wall and a built-in bench line the living room, where a photo by Robbins and a painting by Barry McGee hang near a Catenary chair by George Nelson.

Large, glass, accordion-style doors from LaCantina Doors open the family dining room to the home’s outdoor space, ensuring airflow and ocean views while effectively doubling the size of the room itself. The custom wood table and benches were made by Hill Construction from reclaimed California redwoods.

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.

In the main bedroom, the beds are built in, the walls are concrete, the ceiling fan is by Westinghouse, and the pendant light was fashioned from an extension cord.

Thanks to its natural color, concrete also serves as a wonderful “blank canvas” for landscaping.

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.