A couple enlist Butler Armsden Architects and Leverone Design to reimagine their home as a multigenerational meeting point. In 1963, landscape designer Lawrence Halprin devised a master plan for a community that would live in harmony with the natural environment. The resulting Sea Ranch, which stretches 10 miles along the Pacific coastline in Sonoma County, California, is characterized by timber-frame, wood-clad structures that are in dialogue with the local climate and terrain. Sited on a bluff within this pioneering community is the vacation home of a lawyer couple. After purchasing the residence in 2007, they lived in the home as it was for four years, even keeping the previous owners’ furniture. Envisioning a retreat that would accommodate their extended family and guests, they then recruited Butler Armsden Architects and Leverone Design to help guide the project.

Foyer

Sleeping nooks that look like the grooves in a block of cheese.

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

This living/bedroom space showcases neutral tones and shades of white to contrast the continued use of natural, treated wood surfaces.

The living room Ortal fireplace is clad in cold-rolled steel with a waxed finish. The side chairs, vintage reproductions from Room and Board, feature shapely walnut arms.

The addition’s two stories of cedar-framed sliding doors and window provide generous views of the house’s prized jacaranda tree. The addition’s polished concrete floor and white cladding extend into the garden, drawing occupants to the serene rear porch. There, they can relax on stools designed by Alvar Aalto and Charles Wilson while admiring the luscious greenery.

Fireplace as it was at time of home purchase

Fireplace after we ripped out many things from the room.