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.

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

Sketch of Soma Water

A passage between the walls for hide and seek.

Every space, including the living and dining sections seen here, has “furniture, objects and artworks that bring us memories,” says Smud. The bench, coffee tables, and dining table are by the late Alejandro Sticotti.

"4x4," S2 Architecture This modernist cube by S2 Architecture features transparent Plexiglas windows that emit a warm glow from the interior.

In need of more room for their growing brood, Eric and Emma Gimon, with Luc, Paul, baby Louise, and their dog, Nefi, asked for a private space to accompany the house designed for Eric’s great-aunt.

The master suite was fashioned from the house’s original garage in a 1970s renovation.

Church at St. John’s Abbey (Collegeville, Minnesota, 1961) In 1950, Abbot Baldwin Dworschak solicited forward-thinking designs from leading architects to remake his Minnesota church and create a monument to the service of God. Breuer answered the call. There's a certain majesty to the bell tower greeting the faithful, a massive panel supported by a curvaceous stand. That Breuer then follows it up with the church itself, with a massive wall of hexagonal stained glass and concrete tresses, makes this a classic. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Judin was fascinated by the abandoned gas station ever since he first discovered it in 1992. At the time, it had been unused for seven years. He finally purchased it in 2005 and transformed it into a one-of-a-kind residence.

Foyer

The Andersen Architectural Collection’s Eagle windows and doors provide the panes and passageways of the home.

In 1950, architect Chalfont Head designed The French Residence in Fillmore, California, for Dr. William French and his family. The redwood-clad home sits on a spacious lot, surrounded by neighboring midcentury abodes. Upon arrival, the gravel driveway opens to a motor court and a two-car garage.

White brick exterior of Goddard and Mandolene’s home post renovation.

When Pablo Pérez Palacios’ Mexico City–based architecture firm PPAA was tasked with building an apartment tower to meet La Colonia Roma's need for additional housing, he faced a problem familiar to developers in historic neighborhoods everywhere. The site was occupied by a dilapidated home that dates to 1925, and local laws required that the facade and part of the structure be maintained. PPAA’s innovative approach was to cut the original three-story home in half, preserving enough of the building to front the street and hold two apartments replete with classic Victorian details like high ceilings and restored millwork. In the back of the lot, they designed a sleek eight-story apartment tower that would hold an additional nine apartments, for a total of 11 units. Not bad for a site that was previously an uninhabited single-family house.

In the bedroom, a 1930s painting by French artist Louis Parrens hangs above a vintage nightstand with a Lampe Gras light, designed in 1921 by Bernard-Albin Gras. The bed is dressed with Merci linens.

Even in Ella’s room, Ikea chairs and bed mingle with a restored Bertoia child’s chair.

The family’s two cats, Baron and Jula.

Upstairs, the clutter-free bedrooms of Segal’s teenagers reflect their father’s less-is-more ethos.

An archival photo shows the interior of the detached studio with drafting tables awash in light through the enormous skylight above.

Built in the early 60s, the separate concrete-and-glass studio echoes the original home.

Low-maintenance, sustainable materials were favored throughout the house. Striking orange Pirelli studded rubber floors were chosen for the main bathroom. Clean white fixtures and black shower cladding complete the graphic space.

Djeribi’s studio.

San Francisco in the 1950s.

The Circus: 1870s-1950s by Linda Granfield and Dominique Jando with Fred Dahlinger. TASCHEN art director Andy Disl designed what the New York Times called a "gee-whiz spectacle of a book" as a hardcover in a slipcase.

Leo Marmol and Alisa Becket enjoy one of their home’s many outdoor spaces.

Zippy, energetic type treatments from the 20s and 30s.

A late-1950s set of sofa and chairs inherited from Gaffney’s granny warm up the living room, as do the stove from Charnwood and the coffee table the couple bought from Habitat for their first flat.