Glacial Erratic

The House of Four Ecologies is a 1,600 square-foot residence located The Sea Ranch, conceived by a small group of long-time friends.

At the heart of the home’s organizational principle is the idea that it will be a shared sanctuary— the collective nature of the house necessitated a layout that allows for socializing, but also solitude for individual reflection and creative craft. Hence, the single-family house is reimagined as an interconnected cluster of four small volumes, each holding space for privacy as well as gathering.

The design approach draws upon Sea Ranch’s deep reverence for the land and the project begins by situating itself within the varied ecologies of Sea Ranch. Even though a single house cannot hope to span across all of these environments, one of the foundational values of the design was to produce a multitude of visual and spatial orientations to take in this wondrous and transformational landscape on all sides.

The site is located immediately east of Highway 1, which is in a transitional interface between the ecologies of the headlands and ocean to the West, and the meadow, ridge and woodlands to the East. Landscape features surround the site from all directions: from a humble sliver of ocean view to the Southwest, to an expansive meadow to the North and East. Immediately on the site is an immersive micro-ecology adjacent to a riparian corridor, adorned with a family of firs, with wild coastal grasses and coffeeberry bushes that dapple the landscape.

A grove of three windblown Douglas firs dominate the center of the site, and to heed Anna and Lawrence Halprin’s dictum, we imagined an architecture that danced lightly in-between these existing residents. As a contextually responsive strategy, the house becomes atomized into four simple shed volumes. These four volumes agilely dance between the trees in a delicate choreography that pays deference to their residency, taking advantage of their presence to protect from wind and frame view corridors to scenery afar.

At the neighborhood scale, the house appears as a cluster of small volumes with simple shed roof forms—reminiscent of the clustering of building neighborhoods in Sea Ranch itself. The roof of the living room volume slopes West to blend with the Westside neighbor. The roof of the courtyard and family room volumes slope South to take advantage of additional solar exposure and for the installation of solar photovoltaics. The roof of the dining room volume is sheltered from the Western wind by a fir tree, so slopes Northwest to receive the winds that may travel through the gap between trees. By positioning the house around the existing firs, the mass of the house can only be partially glimpsed as it appears and disappears in-between trees.

Each of the four volumes specifically orients and captures a moment in this transitional ecological journey. The first volume tucks behind a fir tree, minimizing its presence from the street and neighbors’ views, and directs the living room westward to the ocean. The second volume emerges from the other side of the fir, featuring a sheltered courtyard screened from neighbors to the East, buffering the wind and encapsulating a small piece of the coastal groundscape for intimate viewing. The third volume contains a generous space centered around a large dining table flanked by the kitchen, opening to an outdoor deck to the West. The volume rotates towards a narrow view corridor between firs, looking to a woodland grove beyond. Finally the fourth volume houses the family room, turning yet again to face the open meadow to the North.

The Ocean Room is the first space one encounters when they enter the house. It is a room surrounded by built-in banquette seating on three sides, creating a cozy wrap-around gathering space. Towards the South, the distant ocean is framed by a large feature window of filmic proportions, along with a fire stove nestled in the corner. Another window to the West and a skylight bring in ample daylight from multiple orientations - connecting the room to the changing of the light throughout the day. One might sit by the window in the morning sun, gazing at the sliver of Pacific blue, or gather with friends and family around the fire, or a movie screening, projected onto the tall Eastern wall.

The Garden Room is a room within a room, featuring an intimate walled garden with a courtyard deck and planted landscape. The flexibility of this volume is most directly manifested through a series of operable walls. When the interior sliding doors are closed, the space becomes a bedroom and a corridor beyond. When open, the space unifies into a larger multi-use space, one might imagine turning this space into a painting or pottery studio. Furthermore, when the exterior sliding door opens, the space scales up yet again to combine with the courtyard. On a warm summer's evening, one might imagine that festivities seamlessly spill out onto the courtyard.

Immediately linking off of the courtyard, one reaches the heart of the house, the kitchen and dining space. Of all the individual volumes, this space is the largest because it remains undivided. Upon entering one sees a framed landscape through a nearly square window, nestled between a narrow view corridor between fir trees. As the centerpiece of the room, a generous table facilitates communal gathering. On the opposite side of the room, a tall wall of cabinetry provides ample storage along side a simple linear kitchen along the East wall. Openings of varying proportions bring in cross ventilation and four orientations of daylight.

The final volume of the home is an ensuite studio space. Pivoting yet again from the dining space, the last room opens up to the expansive view of the meadow through a panoramic window, bookending the other side of the house.

Navigating the house is like ambling through the landscape. As one moves between programs and activities throughout the day, one also encounters in motion the changes in the environment as well as the passage of light. One might imagine enjoying the morning light upon the ocean in the living room, basking in the warm noon sun in the sheltered courtyard, sharing a meal in the dining room tucked between the embrace of fir trees, and adjourning to the ensuite under the soft glow of the meadow at dusk to end the day.

As one journeys through the house, they are continuously connected to these transforming ecologies with views close and far, narrow and wide, framed through carefully proportioned windows. The ocean room and meadow room anchor the house with their distant views, while the courtyard and dining room produce a more intimate encounter with nearby landscapes. Ultimately the House of Four Ecologies emerges as a cluster of connected volumes, each oriented towards and holding deep reverence for the multitude of natural environments that surround this shared sanctuary.

In addition to adhering to The Sea Ranch’s spirit of communing with nature, the home is an experiment in co-ownership, shared by a group of six who use the house on a rotating basis. While one of The Sea Ranch’s original ambitions was to be a place of radical experimentation, in some ways it has become another luxury vacation home destination. With labor force housing sorely lacking in the area and housing crisis in greater California, the home becomes an incubator for ideas around co-ownership, with cohousing becoming a logical next experiment. Density, housing equity, and environmental stewardship don’t have to be mutually exclusive.