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.

Lightroom 1.0, a photography studio, is a freestanding structure on the property. “Together, they represent an autobiography of my career,” Carpenter says.

Both the sitting and standing versions of DESK 01, a collaboration between Artifox and IdeaPaint, are outfitted with dry erase surfaces for recording sudden bursts of creativity.

Style: "#1"

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.

Back of the promo card by Manjari Sharma, a sample of her "The Shower Series."

After - exterior and new cedar fence

Foyer

Top 9 Kitchens of 2020: The nominees for this year’s Dwell Design Awards are the epitome of style and function.

Lauren and Brittan Ellingson, the owners of Notice Snowboards, a custom snowboard and wakesurf company in Whitefish, Montana, approached Workaday Design and builder Mindful Designs to concoct a new lake home for their family. The brief was, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on getting the family outdoors as much as possible.

The Lofthouse is built one of the many hills separating it from the couple’s main residence. "Excavation was a challenge, as we wanted to maintain as much of the existing landscape as possible, but needed to clear out trees for the foundation," says Tarah.

The architects designed the home’s expansion with the knowledge that the owners plan to continue the renovation when their budget allows it. "We wanted to put everything in the right place so it doesn’t have to be undone later," says Corti.

Parota wood continues in the spacious kitchen. Marisa and Christopher found the blue tile that runs throughout the home on a trip to León, Mexico. "It called out to us," says Christopher. Festooned with small stars, its tone matches the color of the ocean perfectly.

Houston-based designer Barbara Hill is known for a stripped-down aesthetic that blends art-world cachet with Texas modernism. Vitra’s Slow chair sits in front of a powder-coated-steel bookcase made by Hill’s go-to fabricator, George Sacaris; it was originally built for the Houston house.

The architects embraced the modernist form of the new structure instead of cladding the extension in expensive brick to match the original Victorian’s exterior.