Steering an Architectural Gem – Sea Ranch Forest Retreat by Koch Architects

On a wild stretch of coastline in northern Sonoma County is Sea Ranch – a planned Californian community founded in the 1960s by architect and developer Alan Boeke. Renowned for its ecologically driven ethos, the ranch is considered an icon of 20th century architecture, and its lasting modernist timber structure prototypes reflect the project’s progressive philosophy. For Berkeley-based architect Joanne Koch, becoming a member of this community and renovating her cabin, which was originally designed in 1974 by one of the project’s trailblazers, William Turnbull Jr., was an exercise in humility and restraint.

Joanne has long admired Sea Ranch and, as she says, one of its most intriguing attributes lies in its genesis as a design-forward development. “It’s a very different equation when a developer is also a visual thinker because it balances specific monetary values with others like aesthetics, design and land preservation.” The project’s defining tenet – for the architecture to sit lightly on the land – and the resonance of its archetypal timber dwellings within the context of American architecture and design are markers of this enduring pursuit.

“I always appreciated the way [William Turnbull Jr.,] used very simple forms to create evocative and interesting compositions, so I wanted to keep the same proportion, scale and rhythm of the building,” Joanne says.

Pleasingly, the project’s architectural integrity has been upheld over the years by the strict design and construction standards enforced across the property. “There are explicit rules about the slope of a roof and the size of a building,” Joanne says. One requirement dictates that all balustrades must be solid with only a small opening at the top to conceal the clutter of outdoor furniture on balconies from the walking trails below. Though strict, these preservation guidelines help to maintain the virtue of these historic homes and allow the architecture to recede into the natural environment, thus enhancing Sea Ranch’s formative mission. Joanne says she has become “very grateful for all the rules,” adding, “I don’t want to see a pink house in the forest, so I love the fact that all the homes have to be a natural colour. That protection creates a sense of continuity and binds a community together. Not only that, but it binds the architecture together and I think that’s a good thing.”

Joanne’s cabin – a modestly-sized timber-clad structure sitting at the top of a ravine – encapsulated many of Sea Ranch’s early ideals and it was important to her that she maintained this. Reluctant to enlarge the cabin’s overall footprint (an acknowledgement of Sean Ranch’s rationale for small-scale buildings in vast landscapes), Joanne instead focused on gently redefining the interiors to enhance the home’s connection to the environment and create a sense of space. “I always appreciated the way [William Turnbull Jr.,] used very simple forms to create evocative and interesting compositions, so I wanted to keep the same proportion, scale and rhythm of the building,” she says.

“To have larger apertures in small-scale rooms is such a wonderful feeling because you have a sense of cosiness and a sense of vastness, and so the interior experience of the house actually echoes the exterior experience where you’re held by the forest but you have the vastness of the view.”

The entry sequence takes visitors through a gap between two towering redwoods and into a double-height atrium with expansive windows. “You just have this feeling that you need to look up into the trees,” Joanne says. A suspended catwalk connects two loft spaces; one of which leads to the combined kitchen, dining and living room space with views through the forest and ocean beyond. The materials echo the cabin’s 1970s sensibility with a subtle contemporary edge and a palette of moss green and a “metallic blue-ish grey” not only reflects the hues of the surrounding forest but complements the amber tones of the sugar pine throughout.

Notably, the presence of the surrounding landscape in the internal experience is significant. It is an outcome fuelled by Joanne’s adept understanding of apertures and sightlines, which strengthens this home’s connection to context. “To have larger apertures in small-scale rooms is such a wonderful feeling because you have a sense of cosiness and a sense of vastness, and so the interior experience of the house actually echoes the exterior experience where you’re held by the forest but you have the vastness of the view.”

Sea Ranch Forest Retreat illustrates the importance of taking an informed and intuitive approach to architecture of heritage significance. Joanne refers to herself not as the owner or inhabitant of this structure, but as the “steward and caretaker”. It is in this attitude that the success of this project lies; with thanks to Joanne, William Turnbull Jr.’s original design intent lives on and Sea Ranch’s legacy prevails.