Modern Homes with Stunning Views of the Pacific Ocean

The steel canopy protects the residents from Seattle’s notoriously rainy weather as they walk from the entry gate to the front door.

The upstairs portion of the addition takes advantage of the ocean view beyond. "The second floor achieves a dynamic on its own, with large window bands and roof overhangs with detailing emulated from the original," Grueneisen says. "But despite the significant change in the massing, we believe the final composition results in an integrated and seamless sense of continuity between the different generations of the building."

Two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows in the master bedroom frame expansive vistas of the Pacific Ocean.

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.”

Unlike many other houses, whose views occur only out front, the 2inns offer a glimpse of the Pacific through the house and from the backyard.